Howard Lieberman, executive director of the Whitehall Township Industrial & Commercial Development Authority, led a select group into the bowels of the old Lehigh Valley Dairy building.

"I don't know of anyone who was ever in this building when the dairy was operating," Lieberman said. The building has been vacant for over two decades. The site is located 0 acres on the busiest retail strip in the valley.

The authority, under Lieberman's leadership, assembled three hard-to-sell tracts across three municipalities. He suggested that the municipalities agree to work cooperatively to develop the abandoned industrial sites.

Lieberman encouraged the municipalities to include the properties in a tax abatement program to attract developers who have the skills to bring the properties back to the tax rolls. Coplay has the former General Supply Warehouse along the Ironton Trail, Catasauqua purchased the former FL Smidth brownfield along Front Street and Whitehall has the dairy.

The three communities agreed to cooperate to bring developers to the area, but the first attempt to establish a tax favored zone ended in failure. The state rejected the intermunicipal cooperation agreement on technical terms. Lieberman is working with Harrisburg to pass revised legislation.

While the other properties are readily accessible and easy to see from a car window, the dairy's art deco exterior is cloaked with boarded-up doors and windows. Thick padlocks keep out all but unwanted visitors.

Portions of the dairy are leased, but the main portion of the building remains vacant. The present owners allowed the building to decay resulting in a bad leak to the roof. Water infiltration also damaged the delicate features the original owners left behind.

The property may be more valuable to the owners without the building. Based on preliminary information, an asbestos problem does not exist, but there is lead paint contamination.

Built in 1948, the special purpose building has glazed tile walls with polished brick pavers embedded in thick concrete floors. The owner did some unauthorized demolition on the south wing of the building and the township stopped the demolition.

"It might cost millions to tear the building down, but no one has come forward with an effective reuse plan," Lieberman said during the tour.

The building hauntingly looks at its visitors. It is not a ghostly haunt, but one of a building that was abandoned in mid-stride. Even the offensive graffiti is only a surface cut on the building. The strength of 24 inch girders supporting the floor above show its muscle. The grand lobby is bereft of any ornamentation, washed away by the onslaught of water.

What happens next?

Catasauqua hired a consultant to determine best use for its brownfield property. Whitehall declined to provide funds for a marketing study.

Twenty years is a long time for a building to sit. Revitalizing the lower part of MacArthur Road is fundamental to Whitehall's future planning.

Ten acres of prime land with an art deco building at its center presents a problem to be solved with potential to add to the economic well-being of the township and the Lehigh Valley.