From The Morning Call

Throw light on Steel site, developers are urged

They're eyeing temporary illumination of the blast furnaces.

By Matt Assad
Of The Morning Call

August 10, 2005

The developers behind a $300 million slots parlor proposed for south Bethlehem may not know for a year whether they'll get a gambling license for the project, but in the meantime they want to give people a glimpse of what they could do with Bethlehem Steel's hulking icons.

BethWorks Now and Las Vegas Sands are considering a plan to spend more than $200,000 to illuminate the now-cold blast furnaces, possibly as early as next month.

At the request of ArtsQuest — the nonprofit organization that runs Musikfest and has proposed an arts park on the property — the developers would temporarily light the furnaces as part of a public relations campaign designed to show their commitment to investing in south Bethlehem.

The lighting project would be a scaled-down preview of a $1.5 million multicolored permanent display proposed by ArtsQuest President Jeffrey Parks.

Under the plan, which would be temporary until the developers learn if they will receive a slots license, they would use architectural lighting designed to highlight the most striking features of the five blast furnaces that sit along the banks of the Lehigh River.

''The furnaces are a big part of what we want to do on that property,'' said Andy Abboud, spokesman for the Venetian hotel and casino that is owned by Las Vegas Sands. ''Temporarily lighting the furnaces would give people an idea of what we plan to do over there.''

Sands officials have been consulting lighting architects on a plan that would cost $200,000 to $300,000. Abboud said a final decision on the project will be made in the next two weeks.

Las Vegas Sands has teamed up with developers BethWorks Now, which owns the site, on what could be an $879 million redevelopment of the former Bethlehem Steel land that would include restaurants, shops and residential apartments and also would preserve the Steel buildings, anchored by a $300 million slots parlor.

The overall plan includes painting, stabilizing and lighting the five blast furnaces to be a backdrop to the 126-acre district, a job that past developers have estimated at more than $5 million.

Parks said he's presented a $1.5 million proposal to permanently illuminate the furnaces, based on similar projects in Europe.

''We believe the blast furnaces are the key to that site,'' Parks said. ''They are not only symbols of the past, but by illuminating them, they can be symbols of the future.''

Much of what can happen on the property depends on whether Venetian is awarded a license to operate a slots parlor in south Bethlehem, but no decision on that is expected before next year.

In the meantime, making the furnaces a nighttime spectacle, visible from the Fahy Bridge to the Minsi Trail Bridge, would help keep the public's mind on the project and generate good will for a slots parlor project that already is facing opposition from church groups and two City Council members.

''We've been studying the idea, and if we are going to do it, it's going to be soon,'' said Barry Gosin, a New York developer and primary principal in BethWorks Now. ''We've seen Jeff's proposal and we like it.''

If developers decide to go ahead with the plan, they would likely hold a lighting ceremony at the furnaces sometime in September or October.

matthew.assad@mcall.com

610-861-3617