BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Gov. Josh Shapiro will promote the new 2024-25 state budget with a visit to Southside Bethlehem on Tuesday morning, highlighting his new $500 million site development program.
Shapiro is due to appear at the former Bethlehem Steel Headquarters, also known as the Steel General Office Building, on the 700 block of East 3rd Street, his office announced in a news release Monday evening.
The bi-partisan $47.6 billion budget has drawn headlines for its $11 billion commitment to basic education, addressing a court order to fix inequity in school funding.
The 13-story Steel headquarters building, portions of which were modeled after an I-beam, has sat vacant since Steel went bankrupt in the 1990s. Before that, Steel moved its executives out of the facility in 1972 following the construction of the now-demolished Martin Tower.
Bethlehem Steel history
But the spending plan includes other new programs, including $500 million to prepare former industrial sites for new businesses.
Some $400 million of that amount will go into the Pennsylvania Strategic Investments to Enhance Sites, or PA SITES, program. It lets local officials finance improvements to locations that might otherwise scare away businesses looking expand or relocate.
The 13-story Steel headquarters building, portions of which were modeled after an I-beam, has sat vacant since Steel went bankrupt in the 1990s. Before that, Steel moved its executives out of the facility in 1972 following the construction of the now-demolished Martin Tower.
The Sands Bethworks sold the property to SGO Towers LLC in 2019, property records show.
Peron Development proposed turning the property's five-story annex into a modern office space in 2021, but requested financial assistance from government officials to address removing mold and other pollutants from the building, according to LehighValleyLive.com.