BETHLEHEM -- Construction is set to start next month on the National Museum of Industrial History, marking the first Bethlehem Works development since the land changed hands last fall.
Stephen G. Donches, the museum's president and chief executive officer, announced Friday the museum's board of directors has approved the first stage of an estimated three-stage redevelopment of Bethlehem Steel Corp.'s former Electrical Shop.
The museum owns the 1913 building that fronts on Second and Third streets, between Filmore and Pierce streets.
The two-story, 39,000-square-foot building abuts the Da Vinci Discovery Center of Science and Technology, which Northampton Community College is close to buying to create a South Side annex. The Da Vinci center is slated to remain open through June before moving to 249 S. Cedar Crest Blvd. in Allentown.
Mayor John Callahan said he hopes the start of construction buoys the museum's fund-raising efforts and public support of the entire Bethlehem Works development. He said the progress should also allay fears that the Steel's heritage will be bulldozed to make way for shopping and gambling.
The BethWorks Now team of developers has stressed its commitment to preserving Bethlehem's industrial past since buying 124 acres of the former Bethlehem Steel land last fall to create a retail, residential and entertainment complex anchored by a slots parlor.
BethWorks Now investor Michael Perrucci reaffirmed that commitment Friday after hearing of the museum's step forward.
"We're certainly committed to them and that's their project and they're moving forward, so we're very happy and supportive of that," Perrucci said.
Speaking in the museum's 530 E. Third St. offices, leased at no cost from BethWorks Now, Donches said Friday his board of directors approved stage one of the redevelopment in late January.
The museum has allotted $500,000 to give the old Electrical Shop a new roof, marking the bricks-and-mortar start of the decades-old museum dream. Alvin H. Butz Inc. is the construction manager, and museum official Charles Martin will oversee the work. The roof work should take about five months.
Subsequent stages of the museum's development depend on fund raising, Donches said. The total cost estimate to open and run for a year stands at $17 million.
"We've raised 12 and a half (million dollars)," Donches said, adding that the estimate "is going to change."
Stage two would include exterior masonry work and replacing the building's windows, which are stained with more than 80 years of industrial dirt. Stage three readies the interior to open, something Donches hopes to do next year.
"We are very excited to be taking this first construction step toward making NMIH a reality," Donches said in a news release announcing the construction start.
The museum has nearly 100 artifacts from its affiliate, the Washington, D.C.-based Smithsonian Institution, Donches said. Lance Metz, who helped gather or solicited many of the museum's items, said the project will preserve industries most Americans have forgotten.
In addition to Bethlehem Steel and its precursor pig-iron foundries along the Lehigh River, the Lehigh Valley and Phillipsburg region were home to some of the world's biggest textile factories, Metz said.
"It will be the broadest-based industrial/transportation museum in the region because we're going to cover everything from the pre-canal days up to the age of the transistor," Metz said. "Certainly industries which have largely been forgotten or have vanished, such as the iron and steel industries and the silk/textile industries, will be given prominent play in this museum."
Most importantly, the artifacts will work, giving students and other visitors a chance to see the nation's development in action, Metz said. He is historian for the National Canal Museum in Easton and Hugh Moore Historical Park and Museums Inc.
Exhibits planned include those covering steam power, the nation's 19th-century patent process, propane, industrial gases and papermaking, Donches' news release states.
A public event marking the start of construction is scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday, March 14, at the site. More information on the National Museum of Industrial History can be found at nmih.org.
Reporter Kurt Bresswein can be reached at 610-867-5000 or by e-mail at kbresswein@express-times.com.