BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds was on site of the historic Goodman building Friday, giving a congratulatory speech and ceremonially “breaking ground.”
The building, which stands at 30-32 East Third St. in Bethlehem, was declared “blighted” in 2016. For years, it had been involved in a legal battle, where the city alleged the owner was not taking care of the building properly.
It was owned by Alvin Kanofsky, a physicist at Lehigh University, who died before the legal case was settled.
- The City of Bethlehem announced a $9.1 million renovation of the historic Goodman building on Friday
- The building is over 100 years old and has been embroiled in a legal battle involving a late Lehigh University professor
- The building is set to contain a mix of apartments and commercial space
- Construction starts later this month with no end date mentioned
There was no mention of the lawsuit at the groundbreaking, but much talk centered on the rich history of the building.
Before Kanofksy took ownership of the building, it was owned by Ben Goodman, who operated the Goodman furniture store out of it, starting in 1921.
Mayor Reynolds joked that some audience members may be old enough to remember the store’s opening.
Now, over a century later, the mayor's office said renovations and an extension of the building are set to start “later this month."
When the construction is done, the Goodman building will house 12 apartment units and three floors of commercial space. No information is available on what the commercial space will contain or when the renovations will be completed.
The property itself is owned by D’Huy Engineering Inc. (DEI), a Bethlehem-based capital project delivery company. It involves a partnership with Alloy5 Architecture and Skepton Construction.
Emceeing the groundbreaking ceremony was Arif Fazil, a managing member of collaboration for DEI.
“I think the word for this building is ‘cool,’" Fazil said. “It's cool. Like coming inside here, you just don't expect this. You'll see upstairs, the floor space is tremendous. There's an opportunity on the third floor for a skylight to bring additional natural lighting. So the bottom line is this thing is cool.”
Fazil was candid about the state of the building before they tidied it up.
"There was mold growing from all different directions out here," he said. "You could smell the stench outside."
Also on site was a representative from Sen. Lisa Boscola’s office, Joseph Kelly. At the ceremony, he expressed his gratitude to everyone participating. Boscola was one of the politicians who secured funding for the project along with Rep. Steve Samuelson.
Samuelson was also at the ceremony, expressing thanks to all financial and other supporters of the renovation as well as excitement for the project.
“What a wonderful project, a historic building,” Samuelson said. “It's going to be rejuvenated, brought back to life, with offices, with restaurants, with retail, with some residential in the newer part of the building that's going to be constructed in a historically compatible way.”
Mayor Reynolds said the city will be providing $1.5 million in funds for the project, and a representative from Sen. Boscola’s office said $2 million of state funds are being poured in. The total cost of the construction is $9.1 million.
