March 27, 2026
— Jeff Ward, Lehigh Valley News Briefs
Martin Tower was demolished in 2019, the site was cleared and the 52-acre tract was touted as a great opportunity to build housing and retail space in the City of Bethlehem.
That was seven years ago, and it’s still mostly open space. The site of Bethlehem Steel’s headquarters resembles a motocross course more than a development. The main feature is a huge pile of dirt.
Back in February 2023, Bethlehem’s Planning Commission approved a proposal for the land that included a hotel and 1,085 apartments. Commissioners had some quibbles with the plan from developers Lewis Ronca and Norton Herrick.
Jefferson Health has put up two buildings at the site, aided by a $9 million state grant. Philadelphia-based Jefferson operates locally under the Lehigh Valley Health Network brand.
Plans can change, but what’s going on at the site? I checked with Bethlehem City Councilman Bryan Callahan, who has raised the Martin Tower issue at public meetings.
Here’s part of his response:
“More recently, in response to my inquiry at a City Council meeting, a representative of the Administration publicly stated that the developer will proceed with residential development “if we give them a big tax break”. What the Administration refuses to recognize or acknowledge is that 1,000 residential units, even with LERTA, will still generate millions of dollars of NEW tax revenues, contributions to the City’s affordable housing trust fund, recreation fees, impact fees and the like,” Callahan wrote in an email.
LERTA stands for Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance, a tax break that promotes development.
Callahan also said the administration of Mayor J. William Reynolds has insisted upon an “affordable housing” component at Martin Tower, adding to the cost of development. He also said that development at Martin Tower would generate tax revenue, even with a break for the developers.
Mayor Reynolds can’t compel development at the site but perhaps the city can give residents some insight into what’s happening.
So how long will the land sit vacant? So far, there have been seven lean years on what was once promoted as the last big opportunity to develop open space in the City of Bethlehem.
It might make for a nice frisbee golf course or a petting zoo, but I don’t think that’s going to return much in taxes.
In a perfect world, we could have a 50-acre wildlands park. We do not live in a perfect world and the city needs revenue as the cost of everything goes up.
The Martin Tower site could contribute to the municipal coffers.
Right now, it’s a big pile of dirt. What’s next? Anything?
Lehigh Valley News Briefs 
How about opening a co-op there? 😂
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Looks great the way it is. Open space. Wild flowers, plants. No concrete, macadam, asphalt.
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Give it a couple more years for plants to grow and it might be scenic. I wouldn’t mind that over more traffic and more water runoff.
It could make for an interesting biology experiment.
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Lack of development here falls squarely on Mayor Reynolds insisting on affordable housing integral to the development vs market base housing, city Council was find with a Normal LERTA with Market Based Housing.
Developer willing to pay $7 million into Affordable Housing Fund but Mayor pulled plug insisting on intrgrating the Affordable units into the Market rate units.
Communist thinking caused the holdup. Not developer’s fault—bad plan by Mayor. Puppet City Council Council (Excrpt Callahan& Crampsie Smith) too weak to call down the Mayor to get this moving.
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I am not sure Bryan Callahan is the person I would contact if I wanted to have a clear-eyed view of the dynamics of Norton Herrick and Willie Reynolds. I would at least try and balance your perspective with other people on city council who sat down with Norton Herrick when he was trying to persuade council to get on board with his initial plan. Bryan was not on council at that time as he had lost the election. Herrick did not want to pay the full LERTA amount for Martin Tower, and Willie said no. Norton did not want to have affordable units integrated with market rate, but rather house the low-income people off-site, and Willie said no. And it’s not just LERTA, it’s CRIZ acres, it’s the city’s resistance to approving the over-long apartment buildings Herrick wanted to build at the old Bennet Toyota site on Hanover Ave. Willie did not want to play Herrick’s games. It’s a lot of things, including the very real need for this city to provide affordable housing, especially affordable housing that is integrated into our new developments rather than warehoused offsite.
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Wonder if Willie boy is going to insist on Integrating low income housing in the newly approved skyscraper Walnut Street apartments being built on City(Parking Authority) owned property?
He blocked Herrick at Martin Tower from contributing nearly $7 million into his affordable housing program funding because it was only market rate housing vs integrated low income housing.
If that is his agenda then he should insist on the same downtown on property he owns.
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Jefferson got how much from the city of Bethlehem when they built those two buildings at the old Martin Towers property???
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$9 million but from the state.
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