Dec. 02–The Hotel Bethlehem, built in an era of Jazz Age opulence and restored as a symbol of the Main Street's rebirth, is exploring its first major expansion.
Such a project could include enough additional parking, guestrooms, and meeting and conference space to boost foot traffic at the 94-year-old historic structure by up to 40 percent, said Bruce Haines, its managing owner.
"It would be a transformational project," Haines said.
Haines declined to provide details because the hotel's investors are seeking a slice of the City Revitalization and Improvement Zone, a tax incentive that lets developers pay off construction loans with certain local and state taxes generated by the expansion.
The Hotel Bethlehem is one of five developers who submitted one or more project pitches by the city's Nov. 30 deadline for CRIZ proposals. Alicia Karner Miller, city director of community and economic development, declined to publicly release the proposals until the city reviews them. She said she does not have a timeline. It's unclear who else is in competition for the CRIZ designation.
Haines declined to talk about the number of jobs associated with the possible hotel expansion other than to say it would be a "major increase" from the 240 employees there now.
Haines also declined to say exactly where the expansion would go. The 1.45-acre property, which features some slopes in the back, already includes a nine-story hotel that was built in 1922 and a 100-spot garage added in the 1960s.
Haines did say the expansion would be "unobtrusive" if viewed from Main Street, and complement the existing art deco building, which is in a historic district where the city regulates exterior changes down to the color of paint.
The existing parking deck, Haines said, is too small to handle the hotel's demand during weddings and other events. The hotel leases a nearby parking lot and shuttles guests during such events.
Haines said an expansion is the next logical step in the hotel's evolution since a group of investors bought it out of bankruptcy in 1999. The grand hotel, which once hosted Amelia Earhart and Henry Ford, had fallen on hard times. Its grand marble floors had been covered up and its operators couldn't make ends meet in a city that was feeling the effects of its largest employer, Bethlehem Steel, closing its steelmaking operations at its hometown plant.
The hotel reopened and soon became affiliated with the Radisson chain. After five years, the hotel shed the affiliation as they sought a higher-end clientele. It's part of a historic downtown built around the city's early Moravian roots.
The hotel restored its marble floors, renovated restrooms, restored the cornices on the art deco facade, recast the ballrooms and completed its final renovations on all 128 guest rooms this year.
The hotel routinely hits an 80 percent occupancy rate and hosts 90 weddings a year, Haines said. Haines said the hotel is at a crossroads where its owners could sit back and reap the profits or expand. Investors, he said, are bullish on where Bethlehem is going and want to grow with it.
Mayor Robert Donchez said he has yet to review the proposals and declined to comment on them. He said an expansion would be good for the city on one of the Lehigh Valley's most recognizable blocks.
That section of Main Street Bethlehem features quaint shops and restaurants that sprung up around the city's Colonial Moravian heritage. The hotel sits near the spot of the First House, a log home where the Moravians celebrated Christmas Eve 1741, when the settlement was named. It later became the site of the Golden Eagle Hotel, which closed in 1919, and the Hotel Bethlehem opened in 1922. The hotel was a lavish example of the wealth the city wielded with the rise of Bethlehem Steel following World War I.
The CRIZ incentive is designed for businesses that bring new jobs, serve food and drinks, and provide entertainment, allowing sales, liquor, amusement and earned income taxes to be tapped to pay off construction loans.
Lynn Cunningham, a vice president with the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce, said any new parking would be a plus.
610-778-2253
HOTEL BETHLEHEM
Built: 1922
Parking deck: Circa 1960s
Floors: Nine
Architecture style: art deco
Famous guests: Henry Ford, Amelia Earhart, Winston Churchill, Thomas Edison, the Dalai Lama, Dwight Eisenhower, Shirley Temple, Jack Nicklaus
Source: Hotel Bethlehem
