Bethlehem Steel Creates Bethlehem
Commerce Center to Revitalize 1,600 Acres
For Immediate Release
Public Relations Division
Public Affairs Department
1170 Eighth Avenue
Bethlehem, PA 18016-7699
(610) 694-3711 - Phone
(610) 694-1509 - Fax
"We have chosen Bethlehem Commerce Center as the tract's name because it specifically defines the location and best describes the nature of what we want to achieve here," said Curtis H. Barnette, chairman and chief executive officer, Bethlehem Steel Corporation, at a meeting held today at the corporation's headquarters for elected officials, economic development professionals and community leaders. "We want to make these 1,600 acres truly a center of business activity for Bethlehem in a broad context -- light and heavy industrial uses, manufacturing and assembling, warehousing, and commercial and office space," he said.
The Bethlehem Commerce Center joins Bethlehem Works as the development efforts for the entire 1,800-acre tract of land on which Bethlehem Steel operated its Bethlehem plant for more than 140 years. Both projects are being managed through Bethlehem Development Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bethlehem Steel. Stephen G. Donches who also serves as vice president, public affairs, Bethlehem Steel, is president of Bethlehem Development Corporation.
Bethlehem Works, which occupies 163 acres at the far western edge of the plant on land closest to South Side Bethlehem's commercial and residential center, has been under development since 1996. Site preparation is under way for a mixed- use complex at Bethlehem Works featuring sports, recreation, retail, restaurants and the National Museum of Industrial History, which is associated with the Smithsonian Institution.
As with the Bethlehem Works project, the Bethlehem Commerce Center will be developed as a public/private partnership at the local, county, state and federal levels. Bethlehem's chairman especially credited the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for providing pioneering leadership in the passage of "brownfields" legislation to help revitalize former industrial properties. "Here, we have a truly fine example of what a public-private partnership can accomplish in accordance with sound environmental compliance if all sides are willing to consider the benefits that can be achieved for the community in terms of restored usefulness of land, job creation, tax revenues and a new life for what would otherwise be a wasted community asset," Mr. Barnette said.
The Bethlehem Commerce Center and the Bethlehem Works project represent a potential investment, by public and private parties, of about $1 billion over the next 20 years. That investment could help create more than 9,000 jobs and $70 million in annual tax revenues.
The Saratoga Associates, Saratoga Springs, N.Y., is the land planner for the Bethlehem Commerce Center, providing services with engineering, planning and landscape architecture. Saratoga is also working with Bethlehem Steel on the redevelopment of its Lackawanna, N.Y., property near Buffalo.
Enterprise Development Corporation, Columbia, Md., which has been the master developer for Bethlehem Works since December 1996, has also been named the Owner's Representative for the Bethlehem Commerce Center development and will work with Bethlehem Steel to seek developers and market the property.
One of the first major projects for the Bethlehem Commerce Center is the creation of an intermodal terminal on 200 acres that will be used for the unloading and continued shipment of trailers and containerized freight distributed in the eastern United States. The transfer facility, to be operated by Bethlehem Steel's BethIntermodal subsidiary, will be located in the former East Lehigh section of the plant.
Norfolk Southern Railway will be the first customer of the new intermodal facility in Bethlehem and will use it to provide more service options to its customers. In its first year of operation, the facility will create about 100 full-time jobs. As rail traffic increases, BethIntermodal estimates that 2,000 to 3,000 direct and indirect jobs could be created during the next seven to ten years.
Other companies on the property include WHEMCO, which operates Lehigh Heavy Forge and CENTEC Roll Corporation, Brandenburg Industrial Services, Waylite and a number of other companies involved in the preparation of the property for development. In total, the 1,800-acre property currently provides jobs for about 700 people.
The Bethlehem Commerce Center and Bethlehem Works are complementary parts of a comprehensive community revitalization plan for the development of the former Bethlehem plant site of Bethlehem Steel. The plan balances the corporation's strategy of concentrating on steel while maintaining oversight and property control of the land development and increasing shareholder value. The projects also fulfill Bethlehem Steel's objective to Be a Good Citizen by providing an opportunity to return jobs and tax revenues to the City of Bethlehem, the Lehigh Valley and the state.