Money money money.......oyez......^^^^
Better news back in Wilkes-Barre:
Another apartment building rescue in the Wilkes U.-South Main-Murray complex district.....
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Posted on Fri, Jan. 05, 2007
Developer finds keeper in W-B
Businessman has some long-term plans for troubled building at corner of South Main and Ross.
By RON BARTIZEK
rbartizek@timesleader.com
WILKES-BARRE – Sam Johnson first viewed the building at the corner of South Main and Ross streets strictly as a short-term project, like others he has renovated and then sold in Jim Thorpe. But two years after paying $185,000 to buy the four-story structure, he’s poised to make a bigger commitment.
“I have a gut feeling it’s going to be a good investment,” he said Thursday by telephone.
Johnson,38,
still plans to rehabilitate the building that includes 16 apartments on the upper floors. But those will have to wait until he and a partner turn most of the first floor into the Wilkes Bar & Grill.
“It is going to happen in ’07,” probably by September, Johnson said. He’s only waiting for some permits and liquor license approval before starting to convert the former bank office into a casual dining spot that will include a dance floor and video bar.
That will be a dramatic transformation for the building that was closed in July 2003 by city officials who declared it unsafe. The apartments had been the scene of several criminal incidents, including a murder earlier that year.
Johnson originally planned to work on the apartments first, then tackle the first-floor spaces that would be rented out to businesses. But as he’s watched the city’s recent progress, with the downtown theater, Bart & Urby’s bar and other new ventures taking off, he’s decided running a business here would make long-term sense.
Johnson praised Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton’s plan to install streetlights down to and around the corner. “The city’s working with us really nicely,” he said. “They want something to happen there, too.”
The project will take place in two phases, Johnson said. First, a structure on the north side of the main building will be taken down to make room for parking and the restaurant will be fitted out. That work will require extensive renovations, including new windows throughout and a general cleanup of the exterior.
Making the apartments livable will come next.
Larry Newman, vice president of economic and community development at the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber, said Johnson’s project adds to the credibility of the downtown revival. “Just as we had hoped, the private investment is starting to occur,” he said. “For many people that is the real test.”
Combined with plans for the Cumberland Building a block away on Ross Street and for the former Murray Complex in the other direction, “Those are three substantial, separate private investments in downtown,” Newman said. “We couldn’t be more pleased.”
“I’m an investor, with multiple properties in Carbon County that we’ve rehabbed,” Johnson said. “We pretty much just rehab and sell.
“But I’ll keep this one.”
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Ron Bartizek, Times Leader business editor, may be reached at 970-7157.