Bethlehem Re imagined Inc. on Thursday announced a revised schedule

Hoping three months ago to begin the cleanup of the Sinclair Lot in downtown Bethlehem this spring, Bethlehem Re imagined Inc. on Thursday announced a revised schedule that pushes the start date to mid-summer. On the upside, the group has secured additional funding under the federal bipartisan infrastructure law to remediate asbestos contamination in the soil, making for what BRI representatives say will be a more comprehensive cleanup. The nearly 5-acre parcel is the former site of the Sinclair Hotel, which in 1978 was destroyed by a fire that caused contaminants, which include lead-based paint, asbestos, and a group of compounds called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, to be leaked into the ground, thus designating it a Brown fields site. The lot has been vacant and undeveloped for the 46 years since the fire.