BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Funding is in motion for ArtsQuest’s Turn and Grind building. The renovation project to the old Bethlehem Steel factory just got a million dollar boost from the state.
“We are going to keep the crane runs, we are going to keep the industrial look,” said ArtsQuest CEO Kassie Hilgert, inside the Turn and Grind building.
It’s part of a $17 million renovation of the old Bethlehem Steel building.
The project was recently boosted by a $1 million grant from Pennsylvania Main Street Matters.
“This whole center section will be open for expansion,” Hilgert explained.
As storage is moved out, renovation work is set to start next year, with a 12-14 month project, says Hilgert.
“The campus is at capacity right now. We’re actually out of dates, so this is vital for us to continue growing,” she added.
The 162-year-old building is part of the original Bethlehem Steel footprint.
“The product we made, which would have been done in the 1860s, but would have been 100 times this size,” said Mike Piersa, historian and museum specialist at the National Museum of Industrial History.
Piersa says the 106-foot-long building served three distinct phases, which included helping Charles M. Schwab develop the H-beam.
“Pound for a pound, probably the most valuable metal plant made at that time period,” he said.
The new venue will be called the Lehigh Valley Health Network part of Jefferson Health Turn and Grind Shop. It will be a valuable tool for Musikfest headliners and expanding Oktoberfest and Christkindlmarkt.
“When you come down here at Christkindlmarkt, there’s very little elbow room on some days. So, to have this kind of expansion for that and Oktoberfest and certainly Musikfest, it’s going to be game-changing for us,” Hilgert added.