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Save Our Steel in the News
Investor drops Bethlehem Works bid
City officials hope others will show interest in old Steel property.
From The Morning Call -- April 10, 2004
By Chuck Ayers
Of The Morning Call
The developer that had been expected to breathe life into abandoned Bethlehem
Steel land in south Bethlehem has quit the project.
After two years, Delaware Valley Real Estate Investment Fund has told city officials and International
Steel Group, which owns the former Bethlehem Steel properties, that it is no longer interested
in developing the 120-acre site into a retail, entertainment and residential district.
It was disclosed last week that Delaware Valley had no
sales agreement on the land, but was still in the running as a potential Bethlehem Works developer.
That changed this week.
''We were notified on Wednesday that they were officially terminating their negotiations with
ISG,'' said Tony Hanna, Bethlehem's director of community and economic development. ''After
a careful review of the project and the financials, they made a decision not to go any further.''
Delaware Valley Real Estate, a limited partnership in Philadelphia that invests money from union
pension accounts to promote development and jobs for union workers, said the project no longer
fit its development philosophy, Hanna said Friday.
''They came to the conclusion that this was not consistent with their current business plan,''
he said.
Phone calls to Delaware Valley Real Estate officials and state Rep. T.J. Rooney, a Democrat
whose 133rd District includes the Bethlehem Works site and who has acted as a spokesman for
the fund, were not returned.
Delaware Valley had been telling city officials that an agreement to buy the land was within
reach. In February 2003, the fund's managing director told City Council he expected an agreement
within a week. It never came.
Despite the delay in getting Bethlehem Works started, local leaders expressed relief that the
impasse between Delaware Valley and ISG has ended. They said they are looking forward to a fresh
start.
''This could be a very positive development,'' Mayor John Callahan said. ''Bethlehem Works has
been tied up for many years, and we may be in a position to get these 120 acres into the hands
of someone who has the resources and expertise to develop them in a positive way.''
Anticipating Delaware Valley's withdrawal, Callahan said he has been preparing to hold a ''visioning
charrette,'' a session to tap the expertise of development and architectural specialists. It
will be held to devise a new plan for integrating the old Steel furnaces, historic buildings
and idled property.
''We've had a number of positive conversations with ISG, and we're hopeful that ISG and the
city can work together to find another reputable developer to do something positive on the Bethlehem
Works site,'' Callahan said. ''This is part of the heart and soul of the city.''
That could mean changing components of the Bethlehem Works plan, which Bethlehem Steel proposed
in 1996 after it stopped making steel in Bethlehem. The $450 million project was intended to
incorporate a museum of industrial history, but both projects have languished.
Roger Ochse, in charge of selling nonoperating assets that ISG got last May when it bought Bethlehem
Steel in Bankruptcy Court, said Delaware Valley's withdrawal from talks could boost others interested
in developing the land.
''It is a mixed blessing,'' he said. ''There is interest, but how that all shakes out remains
to be seen.''
Ochse said the Cleveland steelmaker wants to cooperate in any plan Bethlehem makes for the property,
adding, ''One of our goals is to exit the community on a basis that pleases and is satisfactory
to the community.''
Copyright © 2004, The Morning Call
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