How Prefabrication and Field Innovation Are Helping Transform Bethlehem’s Historic Turn & Grind Shop
At ArtsQuest’s historic SteelStacks campus in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Klover is combining prefabricated construction, local collaboration, custom metal siding, and creative field solutions to help give a 155-year-old industrial building a new life.
Few construction projects connect the past and future quite like the transformation of the historic Turn & Grind Shop at ArtsQuest’s SteelStacks campus in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
The approximately 155-year-old former Bethlehem Steel building once played a role in the industrial history that helped define the Lehigh Valley. Today, it is being transformed into the Lehigh Valley Health Network, part of Jefferson Health Turn & Grind Shop, a new approximately 27,000-square-foot ArtsQuest venue designed to support year-round arts, entertainment, exhibitions, and community programming.
For Klover, the project represents much more than commercial carpentry and exterior construction. It is an opportunity to combine modern prefabrication, detailed coordination, local manufacturing, and field problem-solving while helping preserve a building deeply connected to Bethlehem’s history.
How Did Prefabrication Help Accelerate the ArtsQuest Project?
One of the most significant contributions Klover brought to the Turn & Grind Shop was its approach to prefabricated exterior wall panels.
Long before installation, Klover worked closely with the general contractor, Boyle Construction, and the project’s design team to coordinate the exterior panel system. By moving critical planning and fabrication activities into a controlled environment before the panels reached the jobsite, the team was able to dramatically accelerate installation.
All of Klover’s exterior prefabricated wall panels were set in just seven working days.
For Klover Site Leader Mike Rader, who has been with the company for seven years, the impact was immediately visible in the field.
Rader recalled how quickly the exterior began taking shape as the prefabricated panels moved through installation. The speed even caught the attention of the general contractor’s team, demonstrating how off-site prefabrication can help compress construction schedules while bringing greater predictability to field operations.
For complex commercial construction projects, that is one of prefabrication’s greatest advantages: more work can be coordinated before crews arrive in the field, allowing installation teams to focus on efficient execution.
Custom ATAS Metal Siding Creates a Distinctive Exterior
The exterior presented another opportunity for Klover to do something new.
Klover worked closely with ATAS International, whose local Allentown manufacturing operation provided the metal siding used on the building. Coordination between Klover and the ATAS design team helped develop custom-cut panels, trim, transitions, and other details necessary to achieve the architect’s vision.
For Rader and his crew, the siding was also a new product that required training and careful installation.
Unlike materials that will eventually be covered by another finish, the metal siding is the finished architectural surface. Cuts, alignment, reveals, transitions, and handling all matter because the completed installation is what visitors will ultimately see.
The team carefully coordinated where sheets would break and how vertical reveals would align with windows and other architectural elements. Rader also helped train crew members who had not previously worked with the system.
Taking on a new exterior product and successfully installing it while maintaining production became one of the accomplishments Rader says makes him most proud of the project.
Creative Construction Solutions on the North Elevation
Some conditions could not be solved through prefabrication alone.
On the building’s north elevation, Klover faced the challenge of installing siding above a single-story section of the structure. With metal sheets reaching approximately 30 feet in length, installing the material from traditional boom lifts was not the best approach.
The solution was a swing-stage suspended scaffold system, a method Klover had not needed to use in years.
Before beginning the work, crew members received the appropriate training, including competent-person training through Sunbelt Rentals. The suspended system provided a platform approximately 40 feet long, giving installers room to position the long sheets and work together from opposite ends.
The solution demonstrates an important part of complex commercial construction: technology and planning matter, but field teams must still be able to adapt when site conditions demand a different approach.
Architectural Details Tell the ArtsQuest Story
Beyond the construction methods, the Turn & Grind Shop contains details that connect the architecture directly to ArtsQuest’s mission.
One of the most unusual is incorporated into the windows. Their pattern uses binary code to communicate the phrase “ART FOR ALL.”
It is the type of feature many visitors may initially see only as an architectural pattern. Once its meaning is understood, however, the building itself becomes part of the ArtsQuest story.
Another feature Rader is particularly excited about is the fifth-floor canopy overlooking downtown Bethlehem. Once complete, the elevated space is expected to provide a striking view of the city and become one of the memorable architectural elements of the renovated building.
Building the Next Chapter of a Bethlehem Landmark
The significance of the Turn & Grind Shop extends beyond construction.
A building that once supported Bethlehem’s industrial economy is being reimagined as a place where future generations can experience art, music, entertainment, and community. Klover’s role in that transformation brings together prefabricated construction, commercial carpentry, exterior metal siding, BIM-driven coordination, safety, and field execution.
But for Rader, the project ultimately comes back to people.
“It’s a team. It’s not just me. It’s not just one person,” he said while describing what he enjoys about working at Klover.
That mindset can be seen throughout the project: designers coordinating with builders, a local manufacturer developing custom components, prefabrication teams preparing assemblies before they reach the site, and field crews finding solutions when conditions change.
The result is more than a new exterior.
It is a modern construction team helping preserve a piece of Bethlehem Steel history while preparing it for an entirely new purpose.
And years from now, when visitors arrive at ArtsQuest and look across the transformed Turn & Grind Shop, Klover’s team will be able to point to the building and know they helped build its next chapter.
Frequently Asked Question: Why Was Prefabrication Important at the ArtsQuest Turn & Grind Shop?
Klover’s prefabricated construction approach allowed much of the exterior wall system to be coordinated and fabricated before field installation, helping all exterior prefabricated panels be set in only seven working days. The approach combined early coordination with the general contractor and design team, controlled off-site fabrication, and efficient field installation to help accelerate the exterior construction schedule.
