Restaurant gets OK despite dispute over balcony
Bethlehem historic commission rejected all-weather deck plan.
A veteran restaurateur’s plans for a top-floor restaurant under construction in south Bethlehem almost soured this week over restrictions in the historic district.
The city’s Historic Conservation Commission recommended denying an approval for Zest bar+grille to have an all-weather deck that gets too close to the edge of the building.
That’s because the six-story Gateway at the Greenway Park building’s top floor was supposed to be set back over concerns about a tall structure in a historic downtown of two-and three-story buildings that had grown up around the former Bethlehem Steel plant.
On the recommendation of the city’s historic commission, Bethlehem City Council three years ago called for the top floor to be recessed by 12 feet along West Third Street and have a thin, projecting roof to diminish the size of the building. The new building, developed by attorney Dennis Benner, is at 306 S. New St.
Permits to build the interior of the restaurant were approved earlier this year, but the city didn’t notice the lack of a setback until work on the $2.5 million restaurant was nearly complete.
Restaurant co-owner John Trapani, who said he wasn’t aware of the restriction, told City Council at a meeting Tuesday that a denial at this point would be catastrophic to the project.
But Councilwoman Paige Van Wirt questioned how the restaurant owners had not learned from the developer about the restriction while discussing the square footage as part of the lease negotiations.
Councilwoman Olga Negron, who had voted against the sixstory building nearly three years ago, said the historic restrictions are there for a reason.
“Sometimes, I think why do we have historic areas anyway. What’s the point?” Negron said. “Really, we break [the rules] all the time.”
Council President Adam Waldron said council agrees with its historic commission nearly all the time, but needs to intervene in unusual circumstances such as this when the city shoulders at least some of the blame. Waldron said the request is “de minimis,” a Latin phrase meaning too trivial or minor to merit consideration.
The restaurant plan is to enclose a large section of the existing terrace with an accordion-style folding metal and glass wall system which could be opened during nice weather. The 47-by-12 foot enclosure is to be along West Third Street.
“The other choice would be to tell them to tear it down, which is not a small ask,” Waldron said. “I don’t think anybody here would want or ask them to do that.”
Joining Waldron in approving the certificate of historic appropriateness for the balcony were council members Bryan Callahan, Michael Colon, Shawn Martell and J. William Reynolds.
Zestwill be a sister restaurant to the popular Grille 3501, which opened 17 years ago in South Whitehall Township.
Zest will offer indoor/outdoor, four-season balcony seating, allowing guests to enjoy views of the SteelStacks campus, Hill to Hill and Fahy bridges, Bethlehem Area Public Library, Martin Tower and beyond.
The Gateway Building will also include ground-floor restaurants Sagra Beans Coffee House & Roastery (from the owners of Sagra Bistro in Hellertown), and Taza Egyptian Cuisine (from the owners of The Taza Stop in Easton and The Taza Truck).
Other building tenants are Lehigh University, St. Luke’s University Health Network and Vita Medical Associates, a medical group specializing in gastroenterology, hematology/oncology and medical oncology.