David Torke, a local preservationist and "urban explorer," said he was in the building on Sunday taking pictures and saw no evidence that the building faced structural collapse.
Re: Bethlehem Steel (Lackawanna, NY) North Office Demolition <Reply # 12 on 5/21/2012 5:58 AM >
I fucking hate normal people! "You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go..." -Dr. Suess
Re: Bethlehem Steel (Lackawanna, NY) North Office Demolition <Reply # 14 on 5/24/2012 2:58 PM >
Demolition of Bethlehem building is delayed
The City of Lackawanna earlier obtained a court order to force Gateway Trade Center to knock the iconic century-old building down. Derek Gee / Buffalo News
Gateway VP blames delay on "timing issue," says demolition could still begin before June 21 court date
By Mark Sommer NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Updated: May 23, 2012
Demolition of the former Bethlehem Steel administration building has been temporarily put on hold — and the City of Lackawanna is now taking the building's owner, Gateway Trade Center, to court again June 21 for not moving quickly enough to demolish the building.
"The building had a stay of execution, so to speak," said Joseph LaRaiso, Gateway's executive vice president. "If the city backs off, we can back off, but they're not, from what I can understand."
Demolition could still begin before the June 21 court date, LaRaiso said.
"We're probably a week or two from restarting demolition," LaRaiso said. "I don't want to be found in contempt of court again." The city earlier obtained a court order to force the company to raze the century-old building.
LaRaiso said he was also learning from The Buffalo News for the first time that a $500,000 state grant the city applied for to help the company pay for the demolition was turned down.
"Of course, we are disappointed. It's a tremendous expense for us," he said.
LaRaiso blamed the demolition delay on "a timing issue" between the state Department of Labor and Empire Dismantlement, the demolition contractor, in which certain obligations, he said, had yet to be fulfilled before work could resume.
LaRaiso acknowledged that the city "has been on our case for years to do this, and we've been dragging our feet because of the economics." He said the company, which bought the building in 1983, concluded years ago it was "cost prohibitive" to rehabilitate the building but could, when the economy improves, build a new incubator office structure at the site.
Dana Saylor, among the preservationists who have had a presence outside the building over the past week, said she was glad for the reprieve and would work with others to mobilize sentiment for saving the building.
LaRaiso, however, was critical of the people demanding that the building be saved from the wrecking ball.
"Everyone wants to do these great, grandeurcq things, but no one wants to put any money to get anything done. Typical Western New York," LaRaiso said.
The state grant that was to pay for the company's estimated $700,000 to $800,000 demolition cost was withdrawn earlier this month because "an alternative reuse study of the building" was never conducted as promised, a state development agency spokeswoman said.
The City of Lackawanna was awarded $500,000 in October 2009 for asbestos removal based on a verbal agreement made with that agency and the state, according to Laura Magee, spokeswoman for Empire State Development Corp.
The agreement called for a reuse study that allowed for asbestos abatement and remediation, but not demolition. Gateway Trade Center, the building's owner, never conducted the study and informed Empire State Development on May 7 it was planning to demolish the building.
According to Magee, the company said it planned to do so without removing the asbestos first out of safety concerns and to reduce project costs.
She said the agency then notified the building owner and the city that since the reuse study promised earlier had not been conducted, the grant was withdrawn.
Re: Bethlehem Steel (Lackawanna, NY) North Office Demolition <Reply # 17 on 8/27/2012 11:22 PM >
Bethlehem Steel building given 90-day reprieve
By Mark Sommer NEWS STAFF REPORTER August 23, 2012
An Erie County Court judge has granted a 90-day stay of demolition for a former Bethlehem Steel administration building in Lackawanna that has stood vacant for more than three decades.
Judge Kenneth F. Case granted the delay to give more time to the building’s owner, Gateway Trade Center, a subsidiary of Buffalo Crushed Stone, to explore whether it’s viable to save the front facade and original 1901 structure, as opposed to the entire site, which includes additions from the 1930s and 1940s.
Gateway is in discussion with the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and said more time is needed to develop a plan and prepare a full structural analysis.
“We are talking to the [state agency] and putting together some kind of acceptable plan to outright demolition of the building,” said Joseph Laraiso, Gateway’s executive vice president. He said he is “somewhat encouraged that a reasonable plan can be agreed to” if it’s first determined the building can be safely restored.
Laraiso said Gateway proposed a six-month extension, which Case shortened to the 90 days.
The judge received a number of letters in support of saving the iconic building.
“The Bethlehem building is the only remaining tangible evidence of the former industrial glory of Lackawanna and the Bethlehem Steel company,” wrote attorney William Magavern II.
He said he was prepared to pledge “a significant sum of money toward its restoration,” noting there is “rapidly growing interest with prospects of specific strong financial support and sponsorship for the project.”
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