An Interview with Joe Kelly

Last week I talked to Joe Kelly, Bethlehem's Director of Economic Development, about recent development issues in South Side Bethlehem, and how the growing entertainment and arts district will affect transportation, housing, recreation and the city's economy. What follows has been edited for length, and the full interview is available on my blog.

Jon Geeting: Do you think the Greenway will increase bordering land and property values?

Joe Kelly: I think so. You’re going to have people who are now going to look at the Greenway as the frontage of their property and start building a little bit to entice people to come in off the Greenway, as opposed to 3rd Street being the main thoroughfare. There are a couple of really neat buildings along the South Side where that could be a potential option.

Lehigh has been a good partner on the Greenway, and it certainly is very interested in how that develops and being a part of that.

JG: Are they planning any construction?

JK: Well they own the building at the intersection of Webster, a fairly big building. And they’re in the process of doing a strategic plan, about how they’re going to move their facilities about, and how they could potentially use the Greenway. They’ve committed dollars to help construct the Greenway. They’re looking at multiple opportunities there. They have not made a firm commitment. But I think they look at the Greenway as an asset.

JG: So what’s the plan in terms of keeping housing and commercial properties affordable?

JK: Well I think that’s a great question and I think the biggest challenge of the housing market in my opinion is first figuring out how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are all gonna play out. And really what the federal government’s role is going to be in helping to subsidize middle class America for purchasing houses.

Keeping housing stock strong is critical to the city. It’s part of what has kept Bethlehem a great place to live. You drive to our downtowns on both sides, there is a pretty good strong housing stock.

I think the second thing also that plays into your housing and making it affordable is making sure people that live here have good paying jobs – have the ability to save money and find a place to live. And I think those are the two things that the city can only do so much for.

But you know you try to keep your taxes down, you try to give people something to do in the city, which is why SteelStacks and that whole development has the potential of drawing in business.

But the last thing, and it’s one of the things we’ve tried to do with St. Lukes and Lehigh, is to work with the bigger employers in the city and have them create incentive programs to keep their employees living in the city. It’s something we’ve done with Lehigh and St. Lukes, it’s something I’d like to potentially approach the Sands with. And then if you go out to 412 and you think about Synchronoss and LVIP VII and then Majestic and you see the potential if we can find ways to get those people to stay in the city.

You know, the business will be there and invest in the city, and then find a way to get their employees to live in the city, to buy in and to be a part of that. And I think that’s going to be a little bit of a challenge.

And again you know depending on where the banks are, if you’re going to have to save up 20-25% for a down payment, that’s a game changer. And so, the challenge for us is going to be to make sure we have affordable rentals and we have places that people would want to rent to live.

And I think the other challenge is: Is it easy to get around? Is it easy to get around in the city? Is it good to get from the South Side to the North Side? Because Bethlehem’s unique in that it had two pretty cool but very different downtowns: the South Side and the North Side. And I think the key is making sure people know about both and that they are accessible to both. Transportation is going to be a challenge along the way. I think something we’ve tried to do with the Loop Shuttle is to get people moving about and I think that’s changing the mindset.

People who grew up in the Lehigh Valley don’t necessarily look at public transportation as a way to get around. And that’s a mindset change. I talked to Armand Greco at LANTA and he said with the influx of New Yorkers and New Jerseyans that there is actually a great deal of ridership in the townships. Growing up there, that’s surprising, but it’s true that those groups of people who grew up in those places riding public transportation brought that with them. I think a key ingredient at the end of the day is kind of changing that mentality, saying public transportation 1) makes sense and 2) makes the city a little bit better. 

JG: How walkable do you think development is going to be on the Steel site?

JK: I can say this, the one thing we’re doing is, at least from the parking garage and the surface lots to the SteelStax, we’re building a walkway between NCC – around where the Museum of Industry History is, and the SGO building. So we’ll encourage people to park at the surface lots and then walk down into the SteelStax development.

Having been down there a number of times now, it really is a neat walk. And when you get down near the blast furnances, they are just enormous.

The neat thing is the Sands seems to be doing really, really well. Their hotel is opening at the end of May. Potentially that retail development is opening some time this year, potentially the events center, all in play now, potentially all getting done this year.

So, the idea of getting conventions into Bethlehem, and getting that traffic Sunday through Thursday, from people who might not want to gamble, and bring their families. We want to make sure they know about all the amenities that Bethlehem has to offer. Those are the people you can draw out of the casino to our downtowns. Right now you’ve got a majority of people who get on a bus in New York who are coming for one purpose. And that’s fine, and you’re going to get that, but as they build convention space and it becomes a convention destination, you can get those people out, and there’s opportunities there.

JG: Opportunities for businesses to make money from tourism.

JK: Yes, and that really is where the Loop Shuttle becomes important. How do we move people from that big hotel to the North Side, or from the Hotel Bethlehem to the Hiatt, how do we move them over to the arts district that is essentially developing over there.

I would say that’s a neat challenge to have, in my opinion. You have people over here, and how do you get them to move about your city and explore all the cool things that are in your city? 

JG: What does the next 10 years look like for Bethlehem. Do you see population growing, shrinking, leveling off? 

JK: You know, a decade ago, the Steel closed down, and people were kinda left wondering what was gonna happen. They put a plan in place for what was gonna happen. 10 years later, we’re on the cusp of all that stuff coming true. LVIP’s starting to grow out, Majestic’s starting to grow out, SteelStax is coming to life, so I see the next 10 years as a very dynamic time in the city’s history. It’s going to be a transformative time, and hopefully the economy turns around and the rest of the Steel site district builds out over the next 10 years, and becomes mixed-use. Hopefully the Steel General Office building becomes a place for people to potentially live, the potential residential component.

The other residential challenge is Martin Tower The building has its challenges, and we’re hoping to get a TIF (Tax Incremental Financing) district in place over there. I think that would be great for the city, because that really is the final hole of Steel-owned property. That would kind of complete that process. If Majestic buildings out and LVIP VII builds out, the next 10 years will be, I think, a decade of growth in the city – its jobs, its tax base. I hope we can capitalize on that, and people realize cities are a cool place to live because you can get around easily and there are things to do.