The Lackawanna Industrial
Heritage Group (LIHG) has engaged the services of a team of well-respected
preservation and planning professionals. The group, funded in part by a private
donation, will assist in creating both feasibility and adaptive reuse studies
for the 1901 Bethlehem Steel Administration Building. Declared structurally
sound by an August engineering report, LIHG wants to show the public just what
is possible at the site. They will announce more details today during a press
conference at 12:30pm outside Lackawanna City Hall Wednesday, February 13th.
This will take place before the 1pm hearing where a City court judge will rule
on the lawsuit brought by the group against Gateway Trade.
Facebook here if you plan to attend.
One of the team members is
Barbara Campagna, formerly the Chief Architect at the National Trust for
Historic Preservation and a board member at the successful Richardson Olmsted
Complex. She said, “We will create a plan for near and long-term development of
this historic site by combining contemporary ideas and needs with a respect for
our 20th century industrial story, providing cultural and economic benefits to
the Lackawanna and Buffalo Niagara region residents and a destination for
ever-increasing cultural heritage visitors. By preparing a comprehensive
Feasibility & Adaptive Reuse Study, we will be using time tested planning
tools to develop a responsible and sustainable approach towards the reinvention
of the Bethlehem Steel Administration Building.”
Campagna went on to say, “The
building has everything we need to tell the story of our industrial heritage,
connect it to our expanding and dynamic waterfront and demonstrate how
preservation is one of the building blocks of economic revitalization in
America and in Western New York.
The Richardson Olmsted Complex, the Martin House, Larkinville, the
Central Terminal. These were all
places that had languished and deteriorated for decades but are now key to the
remaking of Buffalo. Having spent the past 30 years involved in saving and
rethinking the Richardson Olmsted Complex, I’m thrilled to have been asked to
assist in the visioning of the Bethlehem Steel Administration Building.”
The LIHG will be pleased to
share the group’s findings with the public, which will create jobs and
facilitate economic development at this strategically important regional
waterfront site. To stay up to date with ongoing events, like the I’m Steel Standing website and for additional information regarding the court case and photos, check out
Entry Image: David Torke
Image Below: Gerry Zephyr