a media tour of another ArtsQuest project \u2014 the new 80,000-square-foot, $32 million Creative Factory<\/a> less than a mile away on Bethlehem’s Third Street.<\/p>\nMosel called the Turn and Grind project “another chapter in the evolution of this entertainment campus.”<\/p>\n
ArtsQuest Chief Executive Office Kassie Hilgert said that when finished, the 155-year-old building will be a “multi-purpose venue for the community” where “arts, culture and creativity converge.”<\/p>\n
It will be able to hold weddings, corporate events and will be a venue for ArtsQuest’s many festivals \u2014 including Oktoberfest, when it will be “the best bier garten in the Lehigh Valley,” Hilgert said.<\/p>\n
It will be “an investment in the future of this community … for generations to come,” she said, and will “demonstrate what is possible when a community chooses investment.”<\/p>\n
“It’s part of the continued evolution of the SteelStacks story.”<\/p>\n
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\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0Turn and Grind Kassie Hilgert.jpeg\n <\/p>\n
ArtsQuest Chief Executive Officer speaks at a “brick-breaking’ event Thursday to formally kick off renovation of Bethlehem Steel’s former Turn and Grind shop into a new event center.<\/p>\n
John J. Moser<\/p>\n
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\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0Turn and Grind\n <\/p>\n
An artist rendering of what the former Bethlehem Steel Turn and Grind shop at SteelStacks will look like after being renovated into an ArtsQuest event center.<\/p>\n
Distributed<\/p>\n
\n 3 of 7
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0Turn and Grind\n <\/p>\n
The current inside of the former Bethlehem Steel Turn and Grind shop at SteelStacks, which ArtsQuest will renovate into an event center.<\/p>\n
John J. Moser<\/p>\n
\n 4 of 7
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0Turn and Grind rendition 7.jpeg\n <\/p>\n
Artist renditions of how the former Bethlehem Steel Turn and Grind shop at SteelStacks will look after its renovated into an ArtsQuest event space.<\/p>\n
Courtesy<\/p>\n
\n 5 of 7
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0Turn and Grind rendition 5.jpeg\n <\/p>\n
Artist renditions of how the former Bethlehem Steel Turn and Grind shop at SteelStacks will look after its renovated into an ArtsQuest event space.<\/p>\n
Courtesy<\/p>\n
\n 6 of 7
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0Turn and Grind rentition 6.jpeg\n <\/p>\n
Artist renditions of how the former Bethlehem Steel Turn and Grind shop at SteelStacks will look after its renovated into an ArtsQuest event space.<\/p>\n
Courtesy<\/p>\n
\n 7 of 7
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0Turn and Grind\n <\/p>\n
Artist’s rendition of what the former Bethlehem Steel Turn and Grind shop would look like after renovation, being used as Oktoberfest’s bier garten.<\/p>\n
Courtesy<\/p>\n
Artist space and open for events<\/p>\n
When ArtsQuest\u2019s plans for SteelStacks were unveiled in 2007, the Turn and Grind Shop was to have been the second phase of the arts campus\u2019 development.<\/p>\n
At that time, ArtsQuest envisioned a 30,000-square-foot concert\/exhibit venue with a 3,000-seat capacity.<\/p>\n
But by 2008, Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, now Wind Creek Bethlehem, was developing its 50,000-square-foot multipurpose event center that could hold concerts for 3,700 just down the street.<\/p>\n
ArtsQuest still acquired the Turn and Grind building in 2019, seeing a coming crunch for space for some programming on the campus.<\/p>\n
Since then, it has used the building for storage, but on Thursday its interior \u2014 while still only a shell \u2014 let visitors see what it will become.<\/p>\n
“The private events are so critical to us. Help us fund our mission for free programming.”<\/p>\n
ArtsQuest Chief Executive Officer Kassie Hilgert<\/p>\n
A significant part of the building will become “green rooms” for talent performing at SteelStacks.<\/p>\n
For Musikfest each year, ArtsQuest spends six figures to build significant infrastructure backstage of the festival’s main Steel Stage, which is erected adjacent to the Turn and Grind building.<\/p>\n
That includes a kitchen to service the Steel Terrace VIP seating area and the artists, and trailers with showers.<\/p>\n
So the Turn and Grind will have a large kitchen and space with showers. <\/p>\n
That would leave 14,000 square feet of blank, open space in the building that could be used for public programming, arts exhibitions, educational activities and those private events.<\/p>\n
“The private events are so critical to us,” Hilgert said previously. “Help us fund our mission for free programming.”<\/p>\n
Another significant use of the building would be additional space for its largest festivals \u2014 Oktoberfest, Musikfest and Christkindlmarkt.<\/p>\n
Oktoberfest has consistently grown since its 2011 start and adding a covered space would help \u2014 especially for the bier garten, Hilgert has said.<\/p>\n
Hilgert has said she also can envision Turn and Grind becoming an emergency space if a paid-ticket show at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks is threatened by rain, but it will not primarily be a concert venue.<\/p>\n
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\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0Lisa Boscola Turn and Grind\n <\/p>\n
State Sen. Lisa Boscola speaks at Turn and Grind shop “Brick-breaking.”<\/p>\n
John J. Moser<\/p>\n
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\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0Pat Browne Turn and Grind\n <\/p>\n
State Revenue Secretary Pat Browne speaks at “brick-breaking” ceremony for the Turn and Grind shop at SteelStacks in Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
John J. Moser<\/p>\n
Saving history, ‘economic development engine’<\/p>\n
While the building has been stripped to essentially a shell, officials said Thursday the new design will incorporate as many of the Turn and Grind building’s historic features <\/p>\n
State Sen. Lisa Boscola, speaking at Thursday’s event, marveled at the appearance of the original steelwork inside the structure.<\/p>\n
“We think part of the beauty of that building is that it\u2019s been there 150 years. We know the importance of Bethlehem Steel to the country.”<\/p>\n
ArtsQuest Chief Executive Officer Kassie Hilgert<\/p>\n
“They’re original beams \u2014 they’re solid,” and only black paint separated them from their original state, she said.<\/p>\n
Hilgert said previously that “we want to maintain all of that, so you know you\u2019re walking into a Steel building when it\u2019s all done.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think part of the beauty of that building is that it\u2019s been there 150 years,” she said. “We know the importance of Bethlehem Steel to the country.”<\/p>\n
Northampton County Executive Tara Zrinski also noted how, “rather than blight,” the building and others at SteelStacks “now is the vibrant heart of Bethlehem.”<\/p>\n
Gregg Feinberg, co-chair of ArtsQuest’s Re-Imagine That! campaign that will help fund the renovation, as well as build the Creative Factory said ArtsQuest “is an economic development engine for our community.”<\/p>\n
Boscola said there are “not enough superlatives to express what ArtsQuest represents.”<\/p>\n
“It’s a place where big ideas come to fruition,” she said. “Jobs for our residents, classrooms for our kids. … The next generation can thrive without leaving the Lehigh Valley.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 ArtsQuest at a gala news conference in November announced a renewed push to renovate Bethlehem…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[225,153,155,154,15600,22777,23764,634,88342],"class_list":["post-199714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-artsquest","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-christkindlmarkt","tag-musikfest","tag-oktoberfest","tag-steelstacks","tag-turn-and-grind-shop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}