From The Morning Call

Bethlehem Steel plan's fix-up costs are steep

$40 million for headquarters alone, city merchants told.

By Kevin Pentón
Of The Morning Call

September 16, 2005

Fixing Bethlehem Steel's former headquarters so it can house upscale apartments will cost at least $40 million, due in part to a mold problem caused by the 13-story building's leaky roof, a leader of the Steel redevelopment project said Thursday.

Similar renovation price tags abound on the 126-acre south Bethlehem site that BethWorks Now wants to transform into an $879 million casino, shopping and museum district, company principal Michael Perrucci told city merchants.

Some at the Downtown Business Association meeting questioned Perrucci about details of the plans for a 3,000-machine slots parlor, an upscale mall, hundreds of apartments and a museum on the old Steel land.

Mark McKenna, Touchstone Theater's artistic director, said that with the deep pockets BethWorks Now and partner Las Vegas Sands Corp. are bringing to a project they pitch as mindful of history, they should also think of supporting local nonprofit organizations that work to preserve the Lehigh Valley's culture and history.

Perrucci's appearance at the meeting came only days before City Council is to vote on a proposed zoning change that would ban gambling on the South Side — a move Perrucci says would jeopardize the redevelopment.

''The slots parlor is the necessary economic engine that gives us sufficient funds to fuel the rest of the project,'' he said.

Perrucci said he is pleased with a plan, released Thursday, that would preserve 23 of the remaining 33 Steel structures, particularly the blast furnaces, the immense No. 2 Machine Shop and an ore bridge east of the Minsi Trail Bridge.

BethWorks Now and Las Vegas Sands officials will present their plan at a public hearing on the zoning amendment Monday at Broughal Middle School. City Council's vote on the zoning change is scheduled for Tuesday.

Though Perrucci wants to see the Steel buildings reused as shops, apartments and museums, he said renovating buildings such as the moldy former headquarters comes at a high cost.

''ISG really let the [headquarters building's] roof go,'' said Perrucci, referring to defunct International Steel Group of Cleveland, which bought bankrupt Bethlehem Steel's property and other assets. ''The more time passes, the worse some of these buildings will get.''