BETHLEHEM, Pa. — When ground was broken for ArtsQuest's new Creativity Center, last June, the organization said it would be "a new chapter for the arts in Bethlehem."
Nearly a year into work on the building, which will replace ArtsQuest's Banana Factory arts and education center, officials said Thursday that's not only still true, but holds even more promise.
Two-thirds of the way through construction, the new Creativity Center is ahead of schedule, below budget, growing in size and adding new elements of creativity, opportunity and community, officials said.
Creative Factory is "another investment in the arts in South Side Bethlehem."ArtsQuest President Cassie Hilgert
"It's really an exciting time for ArtsQuest, our staff and so many in the community," ArtsQuest Chief Operating Officer Curt Mosel said during a media tour of the building.
ArtsQuest President Kassie Hilgert called it "another investment in the arts in South Side Bethlehem."
The five-story building, originally announced an 78,500-square-foot structure, has grown to 80,000 square feet, with a fifth-floor patio that adds an additional 1,600 square feet.
That's 20% larger than the Banana Factory.
Once pegged as a $34 million project, the total cost has since dropped to $32 million with savings introduced by Boyle Construction, Hilgert said.
The building now is scheduled to have a "soft opening" in November, with a formal grand opening in the first quarter of 2027, ArtsQuest Communications Manager Tehani Boyer said.
"We're on schedule and under budget," Hilgert said.
'People now will see'
Much of the tour was spent showing the new center's spaces — which Thursday were built out in rough format, but far from finished.
The first floor will be the public's introduction to the center — "an energetic hub" with a retail space with work by local and regional artists, and a bar offering small plates and drinks.
There also will be room for classes and exhibition space. The opening exhibit on the ground floor will feature work from students in Bethlehem Area Schools' Liberty and Freedom high schools.
The first floor also will have ArtsQuest's first dedicated comedy club.
ArtsQuest Chief Programming Officer Patrick Brogan said the club will offer nationally touring comedians every Friday and Saturday year-round.
Creative Factory's design "is letting people see in, which is the idea."ArtsQuest President Kassie Hilgert
The space actually will be a theater that seats up to 150, with three screens that will let it be used for multiple purposes: spoken word performances, poets and even student education, Brogan said.
Those offerings were located on the first floor "to put patrons directly on the street," said Todd Chambers, partner in the architectural firm MKSD.
Similarly, the front of the building hugs Third Street, which Chambers said is "common in urban design," but also — along with the large glass windows — is intended to let the public see inside and engage them.
"People didn't know what was inside the Banana Factory," Chambers said. "People will now see."
That use of large windows carries over to the entire building, officials said.
The design "is letting people see in, which is the idea," Hilgert said.
Mosel added, "Seven million car a year along Third Street can look in the windows and see what's happening."
Even outside the ground floor's doors, there will be activity.
The Creative Factory's outside lawn area will be a new performance area for Musikfest, the massive Bethlehem music festival held each August.
Also planned is a new Fire Arts Festival that will highlight glass arts, along with events such as Rosé All Day.
'Incubator for the arts'
The building's second, third and fourth floor is largely filled with class space and artist studios.
There will be 12 classrooms — up from five at the Banana Factory, doubling the number of students who can be instructed, from 5,000 to 10,000.
Some second-floor classrooms will be early education space for programs such as story time, dance, visual arts and musical instrument "dedicated space for our youngest learners," ArtsQuest Vice President of Visual Arts Education Lisa Harms said.
Artist studios are "going fast as we accept applications. We're excited and enthusiastic about the response."ArtsQuest Chief Programming Officer Patrick Brogan
There will be 36 artist studios, varying from 200 to 400 square feet each, for rent starting at $1.40 a square foot per month — well below market rate and among the least expensive in the Lehigh Valley, officials said.
Already, 72% of them are under contract, Brogan said.
"They're going fast as we accept applications," he said. "We're excited and enthusiastic about the response."
A shared gallery lounge will connect the studios, encouraging interaction between resident artists, visiting students and the community during events.
On the third floor will be the Martin Guitar recording studio, where artists can record — as can student bands or podcasters — with professional-grade production tools.
The digital production lab was developed in partnership with Bethlehem Area Schools especially for students.
"It will be a workforce development incubator for the arts," Brogan said.
'The wow factor'
Classrooms will offer a broad range of arts instruction: a glass studio, painting, a glazing and kiln room — doubling space for ceramics, which Harms called "a growing program" — a fusing and mosaics classroom, printmaking and fiber arts and more.
The jewelry classroom will be triple the size of the one in the Banana Factory, and a darkroom for photography-based and printmaking projects.
Harms said that latter medium is resurging, with "a lot of people reaching out" about it.
The Creative Factory's top fifth floor will be the "intersection between arts and gathering."ArtsQuest Chief Programming Officer Patrick Brogan
The top fifth floor will be the "intersection between arts and gathering," Brogan said.
It will have community space that could hold 80-85 people for a meeting or more than 200 for social events. The event space already has a prom booked for 2027.
From the outdoor deck, views "are unlike anything else in South Bethlehem," with vistas of the SteelStacks campus nearly a mile away, and most of South Bethlehem, Hilgert said.
"An amazing view," Mosel said. "This is the wow factor they'll be seeing."
There will be limited parking onsite for the Creative Factory, but Bethlehem has two large parking decks just a block away.
A seven-story boutique motel, Tempo by Hilton, being built across Third Street from the Creative Factory is scheduled to open in October 2027.
'It's a culmination'
Mosel said the Banana Factory, which was built in 1936 and acquired by ArtsQuest in the late 1990s, by 2016 was "bursting at the seams — the building was unable to keep up with the demand."
ArtsQuest planned the Creative Center, but the project was delayed by the COVID pandemic before the old Banana Factory was razed last year.
Donations and pledges for the Creative Factory now total $29 million on the $34 million needed, with a little more than half coming from the private sector.ArtsQuest President Kassie Hilgert
The new project is being funded through federal, state and local grants, as well as private and individual sources in ArtsQuest's Re-Imagine That! campaign, which continues.
Hilgert said donations and pledges now total $29 million on the $34 million needed, with a little more than half coming from the private sector.
The project will bring to $72 million ArtsQuest has raised for public arts spaces since 2011 — largely on the SteelStacks campus. That doesn't include the Levitt Pavilion or Bethlehem Tourism Center.
Another project, to turn Bethlehem Steel's former Turn & Grind shop into a cultural center, is underway, with completion scheduled for mid-2027.
At Thursday's media tour, Mosel said the Creative Factory was indicative of ArtsQuest's efforts to, indeed, create a new chapter in South Bethlehem.
"So much of our staff has put so much effort in this," he said. "It's a culmination."
