The newly rebuilt Walnut Street parking garage in Bethlehem will open next month, on time to accommodate visitors during the city’s busy Christmas tourism season.
The Bethlehem Chamber of Commerce has planned a week of events celebrating the new garage’s opening, including a news conference Nov. 17 and a grand opening and ribbon cutting Nov. 20. The new garage also has two retail spaces on its first floor, which are occupied by the Coalition for Appropriate Transportation, a pro-transit local non-profit, and OASIS community wellbeing hub, a studio offering yoga and fitness classes.
The city began the controversial demolition of the former Walnut Street parking garage in early 2024.
The former Walnut Street garage, constructed in the 1970s, provided 770 parking spots, and, according to Bethlehem Parking Authority Executive Director Steve Fernstrom, was “past its useful life” because of structural issues like broken welds and deteriorating steel framing.
The replacement garage will have about 527 parking spots and is taller than the existing garage but just over half as wide.
Occupying the rest of the space where the former garage once stood will be an apartment building with retail space on the first floor, which is still pending approval from the city.
Reporter Lindsay Weber can be reached at Liweber@mcall.com