BETHLEHEM, Pa. — A former furniture store on the Southside dating back more than a century has been approved for a half-million-dollar state grant to help finish its renovation.
Constructed the same year the Titanic sank, the three-story structure at 30 E. Third St. became home to Goodman Furniture in the years following before it closed in 1984.
Developers have taken a shine to the property in years past — redoing the inside; putting up a new four-story structure on a vacant lot next door at the corner of East Third and Adams streets; and prepping the buildings for a ground-floor restaurant, commercial space and a dozen apartments across the upper floors.
Bethlehem City Council on Tuesday voted 6-0 for the city to act as a pass-through entity for an additional $500,000 in funding from the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program for the work.
Councilman Bryan Callahan was absent.
The Goodman Building is in the SouthSide Arts District, just north of the South Bethlehem Greenway, next door to Artefact Inc. and across from Bank of America.
'Distressed' property gets new life
Considering three additional RACP allocations approved in recent years, grant assistance for the work now totals $2.5 million for a more-than-$9 million project.
Property owner Collaboration 3 LLC, made up of partners D’Huy Engineering, Alloy 5 Architects and Skepton Construction, expects the money will help the project to get finished by the end of June, city Deputy Director of Economic Development Sean Ziller wrote in a memo to City Council.
“It would be a good opportunity ... just to sit down and try to get the developers to do something with affordable housing or a community service agreement such as a public restroom."Bethlehem City Councilwoman Grace Crampsie Smith
Councilwoman Grace Crampsie Smith said similar, future opportunities for historic buildings around town should take more conditions into account.
“It would be a good opportunity, maybe just for the future, if something like this happens again, just to sit down and try to get the developers to do something with affordable housing or a community service agreement such as a public restroom,” Crampsie Smith said.
There’s currently no option available to tie such conditions to the state grant, according to Laura Collins, city community and economic development director.
“Glad to see the ball keep rolling forward on this project.”Bethlehem City Council President Michael Colón
“I’m glad to see there’s more support coming to what I think was referred to as ‘distressed’ — and that’s as kind as one can be describing this building,” Council President Michael Colón said.
He said he was, "glad to see the ball keep rolling forward on this project.”
Two Lehigh Valley Health Network medical office buildings nearing completion at the former Martin Tower site across town also have been recipients of RACP funding.
The Goodman Building once was the subject of a legal battle between the city and then-owner and Lehigh University physicist Alvin Kanofsky over immense code violations, including a leaking roof and broken windows.
Kanofsky, who died in 2019, owned the building for about three decades.
The city obtained conservatorship of the blighted property, appointed by a judge to handle its cleanup and later facilitating its sale to the current owners.
