Order delays Bethlehem Steel demolition

LACKAWANNA, N.Y. (WIVB) - Some say it’s an eye sore, but preservationists want to see the old Bethlehem Steel administration building saved from the wrecking ball. There’s still hope for the former Bethlehem Steel building.

An Erie County Court judge extended a stay order giving its owner, the Gateway Trade Center, more time to file an appeal.

The City of Lackawanna has a court order for the building to be demolished.

Since 1901 it has housed the Lackawanna Iron and Steel Company then the Bethlehem Steel Corporation.

City officials want it demolished because they said it’s falling apart and unsafe. The city’s code enforcer said the second and third flood ceilings have collapsed and the floors are unstable.

But preservationists still want to refurbish it, especially because the building might qualify as a nationally historic place.

Preservationists hope they can save the building because its façade was based on a church from the Italian Renaissance.

An attorney for the City of Lackawanna said if Gateway officials can come up with a plan to rehabilitate the building and pay for it than both agencies can work on it together.

But if they don’t, then on November 28th, an Erie County Court Judge could decide to keep the demolition order.