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.
