BETHLEHEM -- An IMAX theater and the preservation of both Bethlehem Steel architecture and the steelworkers' spirit are some of what city residents want the casino-centric Bethlehem Works to have.
Only the big-screen theater experience was a new thought to developer Michael Perrucci as he presented his BethWorks Now proposal to a public meeting Monday.
Some 400 people attended, taking up all the pews and lining the back wall in the sanctuary of the Cathedral Church of the Nativity at Third and Wyandotte streets. The meeting was part of the monthly South Bethlehem Town Hall series normally held in the church's Sayre Hall that holds 180 people.
Speaking for his partners at Newmark Realty of New York and Las Vegas Sands Inc., which owns the Venetian casinos, Perrucci led a brief presentation on their $879 million plan for 135 acres of former Steel land.
The question-and-answer time that followed for about 90 minutes featured mostly praise for the plan, peppered with concern for gambling's toll on a community and some doubt that the project could reach fruition.
Perrucci said the development will happen -- in 20 or 25 years without a casino or in five years if Las Vegas Sands can land one of four state gambling licenses expected to be awarded next year to resorts and stand-alone parlors outside Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
"Listen, I'm not going anywhere," Perrucci said. "So if the gaming doesn't come, we still own the site. We're going to work as hard as we can to make this successful."
But without gambling as the development's engine, Perrucci said nationwide retail chains would go elsewhere. The domino effect jeopardizes the creation of a variety of housing and the other amenities planned, all proposed to be linked by a passenger railway using existing elevated rail lines.
The full plan calls for three zones stretching from the Fahy Bridge to the casino off Route 412 east of the Minsi Trail Bridge, beside the hulking crane that is planned to remain in the landscape.
Heading west from the casino-anchored retail and hotel zone would be a section dedicated to industrial history, followed by a "South Side regeneration zone" featuring homes, shops and an arena.
Preserving the history is important to former Bethlehem Steel workers such as Tom Petro, his dad and his father-in-law. But the "atrocious" decay of the facilities and grounds are a sign to Petro and his wife, Mary, that the city is ready to move on.
"I think we've got to start looking toward the future. Bethlehem Steel built America, but it's no longer with us," said Tom Petro, who attended the presentation with Mary and their 16-year-old daughter, Sylvia.
District Attorney John Morganelli urged Perrucci, a former classmate of his at Moravian College, to fully consider the increase in car thefts, bad checks and other crimes that follow gambling to communities. Perrucci invited Morganelli and Bethlehem police to a meeting with all the development's partners to address their concerns.
"If anybody's going to do this project right, I think you will," Morganelli told Perrucci.
Real estate investor John Crampsie said he sees Perrucci's promise of 5,500 jobs at a slots parlor and 9,600 total jobs on the entire site as just a start to the project's economic development potential.
Crampsie, a principal with Summit Management and Realty Co., sees Perrucci, his partners and development staff as "marketing money can't buy" for drawing high-quality, good-paying employers to the 1,000-acre LVIP VII and the additional 550 acres adjacent to the park that Majestic Realty is eyeing.
Chris Bartleson, of Bethlehem, said the vision is "pretty exciting" but that she's "split down the middle" over gambling's impact on the community.
"I know about the amount of crime it brings, but on the other hand, (gambling is) going to come to the Lehigh Valley," Bartleson said. "This is a central location, and this is a huge brownfield redevelopment project."
Reporter Kurt Bresswein can be reached at 610-867-5000 or by e-mail at kbresswein@express-times.com.