BETHLEHEM, Pa. — It started on the third floor, and it was unintentional.
That's according to Bethlehem Deputy Fire Chief Craig Baer, who said an Aug. 17 fire damaged parts of an 1880-built historic home in downtown Bethlehem.
No one was reported injured in the two-alarm fire, but Baer said evidence indicated that the house was inhabited by several individuals.
"Every room had its own little setup," he said. "Sleeping bags, evidence of cooking and just trying to keep warm. There is no power to the structure.
"The owner would board the place up, it would get taken down, and the owner would board it up again, and it would get broken into again. No one was there when we got there, though.”
The home at 143 W. Broad St. is the site of the planned Skyline West, a $15 million, 50-unit luxury apartment building overlooking the Colonial Industrial Quarter.
Until this week, response to inquiries to the administrative office of the fire department about the details of the fire were met with an email stating, '‘When and if that information is released it will be via a press release.” No press release was issued, but Baer this week was able to provide information on the blaze.
“Going through our investigation, there was nothing that indicated it was set intentionally,” he said.
"There have been no recent activities or updates from the developers on the proposed new project," said Darlene Heller, Bethlehem's director of planning and zoning.
"But we have reached out multiple times to the property owners to have them address health, safety, and nuisance conditions at the vacant property and will continue to enforce our ordinances in this regard."
Lehigh County tax information shows the current owner as Skyline West LLC, City Line Plaza, Ste. 106, 2005 City Line Road, Bethlehem.
Heller said no other updated information on the property is available.
Karen Blanchard, architect and principal with SITIO Architecture and Urbanism of Philadelphia, architects for Skyline West, said via phone Friday that the project is on hold and that the firm has no other information.
She said the owner is Dennis Benner through Skyline West LLC. Benner Friday could not be reached for comment.
