Cunningham was Bethlehem when the steel company shut down. Over night people lost jobs and the city lost a quarter of its tax revenue. Cunningham brought people something they desperately needed - hope. Bethlehem would rebound, thanks to the moves he and his successor, John Callahan, made. They were fortunate to have Tony Hanna as Director of Community and Economic Development. But it all started with Cunningham. So when Cunningham speaks about Bethlehem, its City Council should listen. Here's a letter he sent to City Council about this proposal on April 18.
Dear City Councilmembers,
As you prepare to take input on the proposed rezoning of the former Bethlehem Technology Center property in South Bethlehem, I'm writing to raise several issues that don't appear to have gotten much attention yet.
- The building under discussion was built as The Bethlehem Technology Center in 1993 as the first stake in the ground in Bethlehem's economic redevelopment from heavy industry to a new economy with an aim to grow a life sciences and technology sector.
- The property was built with public money through a consortium of the City of Bethlehem, Northampton County, Ben Franklin Tech Partners at Lehigh University, and the non-profit developer Lehigh Valley Industrial Parks. (It was sold by Bethlehem Steel Corp.)
- It was so successful that the same consortium built The Bethlehem Technology Center II (currently owned and occupied by OraSure Technologies) next door.
- Both consortium-owned properties were sold to the building's dominant tenants in 2007.
- The intention at the time of construction and at the time of sale was for the area to serve as a life sciences and technology hub for Bethlehem on former Bethlehem Steel land that could serve as a home to companies graduating from Ben Franklin Tech Partners or to house other tech and life sciences companies.
- The Bethlehem Tech Center was built with unique and redundant infrastructure features such as electric supply, natural gas, life safety features, wet labs, and clean rooms.
- There were covenants placed in the sales agreements from both 1993 and 2007 to limit the reuse of the properties for residential purposes, schools, daycares, and many other people-intensive uses. Those covenants need to be released by several entities for the property to ever be used for residential. (The 2007 covenant document is attached.)
- The large grass areas outside of OraSure were purposely built to create a "tech campus" feeling that would connect Tech Center I and Tech Center II. Nearby companies have concerns about that area being used by residents and/or as a park.
- The central question before you is one of timing. Is it time to walk away from technology or life sciences uses? Has adequate effort been made to continue this use and/or is it time to repurpose the property for residential? Here are a few points to consider.
- IQE, the current owner of the building under discussion, decided to shut down its semiconductor operation in Bethlehem and move it to North Carolina. Lehigh University had the building under agreement for nearly a year but decided against buying it in the fall of 2022. IQE marketed the building within the Lehigh Valley during the fourth quarter of last year before settling on an agreement with Serfass this January.
- The federal government, state government and the Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corp. - through its strategic plan - have targeted life science and technology development. There is a base of about 170 life science companies and about 6,600 employees in the Lehigh Valley.
- LVEDC has embarked on a national marketing campaign to help grow this sector here. It is a growing sector in the United States. One of the biggest challenges to growth is the cost of building new space. And one of the biggest impediments to growing companies in this arena is the availability of space.
- It will send an economic development message if the region's second-largest municipality moves this quickly to repurpose away from its life sciences-technology hub at a time when other states, regions, and the federal government are investing money and creating consortiums to build capacity.
There is clearly a demand for new housing in the Lehigh Valley. And I understand that the job of policymakers is to strike a balance regarding needs.
It's up to you to decide if now is the time for Bethlehem to do that. I just want you to do it with your eyes wide open.
New life science and technology developments, campuses, and innovation hubs will be built in our country, our state, and in the Lehigh Valley. The question under consideration is if Bethlehem will be involved.
Again, timing is the real issue. You will hear tonight that the property was marketed for life sciences and technology and there were no takers, therefore, there is no other option. Because of what I do for a living, I can offer that it often takes harder work -- longer than 90 days -- and a much-wider national net to find a specialized user for a building constructed for this purpose. Buildings in Bethlehem have been vacant for years or decades while much work was done to see if they could be reused, such as Bethlehem Steel's Martin Towers, the Bennett Toyota car lot on W. Broad St., and the numerous former Bethlehem Steel buildings on the ArtsQuest campus preserved for adaptive reuse.
I respect the difficulty of your job. I once was a City Councilman.
I know you all have the good of our city at heart. I want you to make your decision after a full examination.
While I cannot be at your public hearing tonight, I am open to questions and discussions at your pleasure.
15 comments:
Don the Con. Sadly, Donchez made him look good, as well will wee willie.
240 apartments ,Ah ,that’s another 500 people or more ,and vehicles. Development is killing us in the housing stock . We can hardly get someplace now. You want Patterson N.J.? You will get it. Already larger capacity apartment going in across from 1 And 3 Bethlehem Plaza . A sea of vehicles even in the townships.
Something doesn't add up.
If "One of the biggest challenges to growth (in the sector) is the cost of building new space", you would think that companies would be knocking down the door of this property.
Similarly, if the state and LVEDC "have targeted life science and technology development" shouldn't they have a growing list of companies looking for such space?
More likely, the market isn't what Cunningham decscribes; the property is no longer what these companies are looking for (hence IQE moving its semiconductor operation to North Carolina); the Ben Franklin Tech Partners are no longer "graduating" companies into the center; and/or the letter is a lame attempt to cover his ass and say that he tried.
Beyond that, I find the letter to council incredibly condescending.
The all-knowing Cunningham implies that council hasn't already made a "full examination" and needs to have their "eyes wide open". Cunningham also says "he can offer" that marketing the property takes longer than 90 days, yet his organization certainly doesn't seem to have done this proactively.
I guess it's easier to point fingers at the property owner than to look in the mirror.
Cunningham also doesn't mention that we're now 5 months into a new year, so it's now a little over 240 days since the property became available. Perhaps he and his agency can publicly describe the successful efforts they have made to market the property in that time for the purpose he is proposing. Surely he has at least one potential buyer to offer as an alternative.
Finally, Cunningham and his group seem to be lacking in transparency. If the building and potential rezoning are so important, why not say you'll be coming to the meeting to be available to council - AND THE PUBLIC AND THE PROPERTY OWNER - to answer questions?
This letter was apparently sent to Council on April 18th. Are we to believe that he hasn't been able to attend any council meeting between that date and the rezoning meeting to publicly address the issue?
Maybe that's because he'd prefer to talk to council privately or in back rooms to avoid public scrutiny. Last time I checked, LVEDC is a publicly funded entity. The public deserves to know what they're doing.
I have a feeling that if Don came to Council to publicly answer questions, he'd be forced to admit that finding the type of buyer he wants would take some sort of grants (federal, PA, local), or tax breaks (LERTA, etc.), or both. In other words, we'd have to wait until all those things were approved so that we can pay the "right" buyer to come and "invest" here.
While that process drags on, the city would continue to be out of any earned income tax, business privilege tax, local services tax, and other taxes on the property.
Or they could approve the rezoning and start moving NOW.
To me, it's a no-brainer. Government shouldn't be picking winners and losers. The free market is telling us something.
If Cunningham and the LVEDC have a better deal for the city (an actual deal) it's time for them to put up or shut up.
9:58, Your comment reads exactly like the arguments Serfass was making. Yes, Bethlehem will get more tax revenue with a new apartment complex on the south side./ It will also require more services from police, fire, EMS and public works. Moreover, an apartment complex will burden the schools unless they are very small.
The property is already zoned, so it strikes me that the government is picking and choosing a winner when it changes the zoning.
This property had been used for tech and life sciences, and as Cunningham observes, 90 days is not a particularly long time to find a suitable buyer for a $7 million piece of land. Plus no one has addressed the deed restrictions, which I will be reviewing.
The biggest thing about this tract is it contains a clean room, and those are rare.
I agree with you about needing to address the deed restrictions, but view that as a separate issue from what would be the best (or most practical) use for the property now.
Who are the parties to the covenants, and which ones will want to risk the ire (and the possible loss of political support) of City Hall by opposing the release of the restrictions?
Again, if the property has something (like a clean room) that is so unique (or rare), why aren't buyers knocking down doors to purchase the property?
"Again, if the property has something (like a clean room) that is so unique (or rare), why aren't buyers knocking down doors to purchase the property?"
Because, as Cunningham has stated, not enough time was spent in marketing to the life sciences and tech industries.
As much as I fault Don Cunningham for marketing to attract more distribution centers, I must agree with him on this IQE/tech center project. While more apartments may be more profitable on paper has anyone ever looked at the vacancy rate at Riverport or any of the neweer occupied buildings?
Bernie @ 12:49:
But he's saying that both the state and his organization have targeted life science and technology development, and that his organization has embarked on a national marketing campaign to help grow the sector here.
And it's now been 8 months (using the 4th quarter 2022 that Cunningham claims and 5 months this year) since the property was put back on the market, and probably longer since it was known that Lehigh wasn't moving forward after dawdling for over a year.
Surely by now he must have a long list of potential buyers for this "rare" property.
I do not agree with Don Cunningham many times but I believe he is correct regarding this property. This country needs this type of chip manufacturing facility, but we got rid of many clean rooms (e.g. Lucent) that are now needed for making chips. Don is correct that finding companies, especially new ones, is a challenge that must be addressed. Affordable housing is needed in the Lehigh Valley but it will be very short-sighted to tear this down and use for housing.
I was told that the owners received a fair offer on the property that would have kept it as a tech center and that the owners did not want that information released to Council because they will make more money on building apartments. Anyone know if thats true?
Says the man that brought us the "inland port" designation and promoted warehouse proliferation for years. You praise him, if you want.
I do know that Jeff Parks has an ownership interest in a long-planned, higher rent apartment building, Skyline Towers, located on a space at the western end of the Broad Street Bridge. Somehow, that project idea has stalled. This newer proposal represents some competition, I’d say.
Are we not surprised that wee Willie is not trying to threaten some type of domain?
Remember, Bethlehem's wi was someone else's loss. Pay the grant money back and give to another community.
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