BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Pondering the possibility of building a new youth-focused-but-all-ages-welcome Southside Community Center, city officials Thursday shared next steps in the process.
City Hall officials told about 30 people at a meeting at Northampton Community College's Fowler Center they are leaning toward new construction rather than rehabbing, retrofitting or buying another property as is.
The city foresees the buildout to cost $15.8 million and $2 million each year to run the facility at Mechanic Street Lot No. 2.
“If we could raise the $15 million to build it, that’s great. But we aren’t going to build it without a sustainability plan."Bethlehem Mayor J. William Reynolds, on the possibility of the new Southside Community Center
The Bethlehem Parking Authority-owned lot is at the 100 block of Mechanic Street, flanked by Webster and Taylor streets. It sits between two other similarly sized parking lots.
The South Bethlehem Greenway runs just to the south of the area, traveling east and west from there.
"We're really excited about the opportunity and are happy to support it any way we can," BPA Executive Director Steven Fernstrom said of the new facility following the meeting.
Renderings shown at Thursday’s meeting were all conceptual. No construction has been approved.
Narrowing the options
Henri Brooks with AOS Architects, brought on for the project, said, “What we really liked about the opportunity for this Greenway parking lot site is just, jumping back to the community caucus, so many people’s preference was that a new facility would be somehow connected to the Greenway as kind of this super important artery and point of connection across the South Side.”
“Porch space” in the area between the building and the Greenway could offer a spot for folks to sit and eat or take a load off, for example.
Residents appear to want their community center to have an indoor gymnasium space. Such a facility also could offer a central location for health services, mentorship and good times all around, residents have said.
"So many people’s preference was that a new facility would be somehow connected to the Greenway as kind of this super important artery and point of connection across the South Side.”Henri Brooks with AOS Architects, on the possibility of the new Southside Community Center in Bethlehem
A number of possible locations for the community hub were narrowed to 10 total sites — a couple of those included space within both the Six10 Flats building on Third Street and the Gateway at Greenway Park building at 306 S. New St.
From there, that number was brought down to three, then two.
Putting the idea aside mostly because of a lack of adequate, flexible space, project officials said $10 million would be the estimated renovation cost if the old St. John’s Windish Evangelical Lutheran Church at 617 E. Fourth St. was chosen as the host facility instead.
Sustainability plan needed
Mayor J. William Reynolds said the new-build project needs a preferred operator to assist in programming, transportation access and more, since the city wouldn’t be running the facility.
Fundraising for new builds and the refurbishing of older ones both come with their own respective challenges, the mayor said.
“If we could raise the $15 million to build it, that’s great,” Reynolds said. “But we aren’t going to build it without a sustainability plan.
“It’s not just about getting those grants; it’s about how do we come up with a process in which this can be sustainable, but also meet what that mission is.”
In 2024, the state-sanctioned Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program paid out $5 million for the Upper Macungie Township Community Lifestyle Center.
New development committee
The project will get its own development committee to assist in the networking and fundraising efforts.
The mayor announced the group’s first co-chairs: Tony DaRe, chief executive officer of BSI Benefits, and Darrun Hilliard, professional basketball player and native of South Bethlehem.
“The vision of the Southside Community Center and the opportunities it will provide will change people’s lives in the most positive way," DaRe said in a statement shared at the meeting.
"There is no greater purpose, and we are privileged and excited to champion this initiative.”
“I’m excited for the future, and I can’t wait to help.”Darrun Hilliard, pro basketball player, South Bethlehem native and Southside Community Center Development Committee co-chair
Hilliard said in a video statement played at the meeting, “Not too long ago, Mayor Reynolds had talked to me about the possibility of a youth-based community center opening up on the South Side.
“Me being from the South Side, I know exactly what that can do for the community.
“I’m excited for the future, and I can’t wait to help.”
Among other surveying measures, the Southside Community Center feasibility study involved four focus group sessions:
- One with local recreational facility operators such as YWCA and the Boys & Girls Club
- One with Community Action Development Bethlehem and Northeast Community Center
- One with community education partners, such as community school coordinators from Donegan Elementary, Broughal Middle and Fountain Hill Elementary schools and Lehigh University's Community Service Office
- One with Broughal Middle School students
Christopher Kroner, principal with MASS Design Group, which essentially oversaw the community engagement aspect of the project, said his team’s dialogue with BMS students offered “the most incredible insights about your community and the things that really mattered.”
“Each community is pretty different,” Kroner said.
“We’re learning every community has a fingerprint, and it’s really incredible to actually find those throughlines and try to create a narrative that is cohesive, that explains what that really looks like.”
'Really blown away'
Sara Satullo, city deputy director of community development, said she was “really blown away” with the engagement process from locals.
That was especially true of “how giving people were of their time, of sharing their thoughts for the future, the things that they love about our community, the things that make it special to them,” Satullo said.
South Side resident Angela Mitchell said she liked the concepts for both the sites at Mechanic Street and St. John’s Windish.
But considering the church has space limitations, Mitchell said maybe two separate facilities would be in order.
Jo Daniels, another South Bethlehem local, said Mitchell’s idea was “phenomenal.”
“I know that we’re going to do great work together wherever we build the center, but I’m not stressed about that. It’s just about amplifying the work.”Carolina Hernandez, assistant dean and director of Lehigh University's Community Service Office
“The front-facing entrance to the Windish Hall is on a pretty busy street,” Bethlehem Area School District Superintendent Jack Silva said.
“The front entrance of the Mechanic Street site is on the Greenway, which is a little different.
“So it might be a little further, but it might also be a little safer if the families are traveling on the Greenway rather than Fourth Street.”
Lifelong South Bethlehemite Carlos Diaz, said, “To see the gentrification and housing crisis that has developed from then until now, I’m not even going to mince words: It breaks my heart.
"But the work of you people here is just giving me hope that there’s going to be a brighter future.”
“I know that we’re going to do great work together wherever we build the center, but I’m not stressed about that,” said Carolina Hernandez, assistant dean and director of Lehigh University's Community Service Office.
“It’s just about amplifying the work.”
'Something that they can take pride in'
The community center feasibility study cost the city about $88,000 in American Rescue Plan allocations. Reynolds first announced the intention to pursue a new community center in October 2022.
"Where people feel like it is their space, like they deserve to be there, there’s dignity to be there and it’s something that they can take pride in."Bethlehem Mayor William Reynolds
A76-unit apartment building with retail space is going up in the place of the former Boys & Girls Club at 117 E. Fourth St., which was torn down in 2018. The club has since been moved to the northeastern end of town.
In March, dozens of people brainstormed on what they’d like to see in a South Bethlehem community center.
Some suggestions included an open gym, community garden, dance classes and neighborhood meet-and-greets.
“The centerpiece of what this whole planning process has been and will continue to be, is how do we build something that is of the South Side, by the South Side," the mayor said.
"Where people feel like it is their space, like they deserve to be there, there’s dignity to be there and it’s something that they can take pride in."
