From The Morning Call

BethWorks Now plan keeps 23 Steel buildings

Proposal for mixed use including slots parlor is to be displayed to public at Monday hearing.

By Matt Assad
Of The Morning Call

September 15, 2005

A plan to transform the remnants of Bethlehem Steel into an $879 million casino, shopping and museum district would save 23 of the remaining 33 structures at the old plant in south Bethlehem.

According to the plan to be unveiled before Bethlehem business leaders today, the massive No. 2 Machine Shop, the hulking blast furnaces and the gas engine blowing house would be saved.

However, the wrecking ball would find others, such as the five-building weldment complex, most of the electric furnace melting department and the

locomotive repair shop, under a plan designed in part to persuade City Council not to ban gambling on the South Side.

For Lance Metz, historian for the National Canal Museum in Easton, whose archives hold the largest collection of Bethlehem Steel records, the plan by developer BethWorks Now contains a lot of good news, sprinkled with a depressing dose of reality.

''I'm very happy about the plan in general, because it saves an awful lot of important buildings,'' Metz said. ''But I'll never agree to the demolition of the weldment complex. That produced the armor for 60 battleships. I'll fight for that until the end.''

BethWorks Now and its partner, Las Vegas Sands Corp., owner of the Venetian casino, have spent the last several weeks laying out their plans for the 126-acre Bethlehem Steel site. Those plans include a 3,000-machine slots parlor, a hotel, an upscale mall and as many as 1,200 apartments.

The campaign has included a $50,000 Musikfest sponsorship, a door-to-door petition and a 12-page booklet stuffed in nearly 30,000 Bethlehem area newspapers.

Council on Tuesday is scheduled to vote on a proposed zoning change that would ban building a slots parlor on the former plant lands.

BethWorks Now principal Michael Perrucci hopes council members will be swayed by a plan that saves 70 percent of the vacant structures once used by the nation's longtime No. 2 steelmaker.

''We've worked very hard at preserving a majority of the buildings, because we think the legacy of Bethlehem Steel is very important to our plans,'' Perrucci said. ''We're hoping the city fathers and the community will be happy with what they see.''

Preserving Steel's legacy has been a concern voiced at many public meetings on the BethWorks Now plan. In most cases, the preserved buildings would lose their dilapidated roofs, and the No. 2 Machine Shop would have a road running through it.

But the walls and foundations of most of the vacant buildings would be used as the bones for new buildings.

A drastically changed No. 2 Machine Shop would become a mix of retail shops, museum space and loft apartments, while an ArtsQuest concert venue and visitors center would be built next to the refurbished blast furnaces.

The 13-story former Steel headquarters would become upscale apartments, the long-awaited National Museum of Industrial History would be scattered through several buildings, and nearly two dozen structures would be saved, including the ore bridge, an elevated rail line and all five blast furnaces.

However, several buildings in the electric furnace melting department would be demolished, and the weldment complex would be razed to make way for an upscale shopping mall and parking garages.

BethWorks Now may get some argument from preservationists, but the plan already has the endorsement of Mayor John Callahan.

''I'm very impressed with the creativity and the care they've taken to preserve as much of that site as possible,'' Callahan said. ''It's unrealistic to think anyone could save all of those buildings. Some of them aren't even structurally sound.''

Even Councilman Gordon Mowrer, who is sponsoring the zoning amendment to ban gambling, believes the preservation plans will convince many.

''It's absolutely beautifully done. I can't argue with any of those preservation plans,'' Mowrer said. ''I'd love to see [the preservation] happen, but I still don't like gambling. I still can't get past that part of it.''

Perrucci is scheduled to appear tonight at the Comfort Suites Hotel in south Bethlehem to present the plans to business leaders. Then BethWorks Now and Las Vegas Sands officials will present them to the public Monday during a hearing on the zoning amendment at Broughal Middle School.

''If this doesn't convince people,'' Perrucci said, ''I don't know what will.''

matthew.assad@mcall.com

610-861-3617