A handful of Lackawanna residents on Monday urged the City Council to pressure Mayor Geoffrey Szymanski into doing an adaptive reuse study on the long-vacant Bethlehem Steel administration building that is scheduled for demolition.

“It is what the city has been built on, and it needs to stick around,” said Danielle Huber, founder of the Lackawanna Industrial Heritage Group, a new group that is fighting to preserve the ornate 1901 building.

The city has obtained a court order forcing the building’s current owner, Gateway Trade Center, to tear it down.

Preservationists rallied in the hours before demolition was set to begin on May 18. The work has been delayed since then, but it could restart shortly as the city continues to push for the demolition in court.

via Reuse study urged for Bethlehem site – Lackawanna – The Buffalo News.