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Old 04-05-2007, 08:32 AM
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Thumbs up Upcoming Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Area Projects

Part One:

While posting links for another member regarding local real estate opportunities, I also came across a link to local real estate developer Daniel Siniawa of Dickson City. Among his upcoming projects include several "in-town" mixed-use complexes, including the Murray Complex in Downtown Wilkes-Barre and two luxury high-rises on the waterfront in Downtown Pittston, both of which caught my eye.

Here's more information about the project coming to Pittston:

http://www.danielsiniawa.com/pittston_waterfront.htm


An aerial view of the proposed project, with Cooper's on the Waterfront Seafood Restaurant on the left, the Pittston Post Office in the foregound (with all of the little white mail trucks), and the First Baptist Church near the base of the Water Street Bridge. Pittston's Riverfront Park is set behind the two towers, and the presence of sailboats is grossly overexaggerated, to say the least, as nearly nobody utilizes the Pittston waterfront for recreational purposes (yet), due to the severe acid mine runoff pollution problems just upstream.


The proposed view of the towers from the West Pittston shoreline with the Water Street Bridge on the left.


The proposed interior of one of the new condominiums.


The proposed lobby of one of the new towers.

The towers will have underground parking. One tower will have a top-floor upscale restaurant, and the other will have luxury penthouses on its top floor. Personally, I have mixed feelings about this project. I think bringing potentially 100+ new upper-middle-class and well-to-do professionals to downtown will be a catalyst to spawn future revitalization projects in this struggling inner core. However, I'm not a fan of the artists' rendering of the proposed towers. Currently the Pittston skyline is dominated by various historic church steeples. To build onto its nostalgic flair, the downtown has recently been installing new Victorian-era streetlights throughout the downtown. Other upcoming StreetScape improvements include raised, patterned, brick crosswalks at intersections, underground utilities, landscaping, and a study to reconfigure traffic patterns downtown to help ease rush-hour congestion. For a city that's trying so desperately to reinvent itself as a "nostalgic" town, are modern, futuristic-looking penthouse towers truly an asset to the flair of the city? I'd be thrilled to see this project get off the ground if Mr. Siniawa could somehow try to alter his exterior to make the high-rises better conform to a "historic" theme---perhaps using some brick and cobblestone as complements. His images of Pittston make it look like a mini-SoHo; in my opinion, the town will thrive much better if it instead touts itself as being a historic get-away spot, such as Jim Thorpe, New Hope, etc. Scranton is currently being reinvented as a mini-NYC with its galleries, coffee houses, lofts, etc., and Wilkes-Barre isn't far behind. I think it would be best for Pittston to buck the trend of those two cities by embracing its historic architecture as it progresses into the future.

It's also at this point in time that I'd like to announce that I'm reigniting my fledgling Pittston 2020 project (http://www.pittston.org). I'll soon be renewing my domain name, e-mail account, etc., and I hope to become more actively-involved in the town's future in a month or so after finals have been completed.

Last edited by ScranBarre; 04-05-2007 at 08:33 AM.. Reason: Activated Link
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Old 04-05-2007, 08:40 AM
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Default Part One-and-a-Half

Before I move onto the next project, I forgot a few tidbits about the new Pittston Waterfront Towers. The complex will house 98 condominiums and 4 luxury penthouses. Here's some floor plans:


A typical floor layout featuring seven units.


A floor plan for a 3 BR, 2.5 BA unit ranging from 1,500-1,700 square ft.



A floor plan for a 2 BR, 2 BA unit ranging from 1,100-1,400 square ft.

The complex will also feature ground-level retail space, a new clock tower, and direct access to Riverfront Park and downtown.
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Old 04-05-2007, 08:46 AM
City Boy in The 'Burbs
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Default Part Two

Here's some information about the upcoming Murray Complex:

http://www.danielsiniawa.com/murray_complex.htm

The former industrial site of the Murray Complex consists of 13 buildings totalling 480,000 square feet on 16 acres of land adjacent to Center City Wilkes-Barre.


The proposed front elevation from Wilkes-Barre Boulevard.


The proposed elevation from Ross Street.


An aerial view of the proposed courtyard.


The proposed interior courtyard.


Proposed view of the main entrance.

The Murray Complex groundbreaking is anticipated for this summer. It will join a slew of other projects recently completed or currently underway to make downtown an exciting, liveable neighborhood. Across town, the old Hotel Sterling building on the NE corner of West Market & North River is being converted into a similar mixed-use project of restaurants, shops, offices, and living space. In 2006, the new Diamond City Entertainment District was established, and it is now home to a new movie theater, two new night clubs, an upscale billiards hall, Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, Bart & Urby's Bistro, a renovated F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts, and two more upcoming restaurants (Jannuzzi's Pizza and Quizno's). There's also proposed living space and ground-level boutique space in that general area. New Victorian-era streetlights illuminate the downtown area. Market Street Square will soon be transformed into a new visitors' center and an intermodal transportation center (with possible commuter rail linkage to NYC via Scranton in about a decade). The riverfront is currently being revamped tremendously with a new River Walk project and the proposed "calming" of River Street with lush landscaping. King's College and Wilkes University each have projects as well to invest in the city. The town has been rounding a corner lately, and I'm happy to see it after so many years of decline.


Here's a view of the existing parcel of land (top) and proposed parcel of land (bottom).


An aerial view of the land usage site plan.

Last edited by ScranBarre; 04-05-2007 at 08:52 AM.. Reason: Additions
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Old 04-05-2007, 09:33 AM
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---There's also an old apartment building under renovation on West Ross. St. near South Main...a beautiful old brick structure....

---The Genetti Hotel announced a few months back that some portion of it would be going condo, as well.

---There's also an interesting proposal for an Indian Museum across the river at Kingston plus a number of condos/ apartments nearby....hopefully there'll be updates soon....

----here's a link to a wonderful interactive map of the Wilkes-Barre projects:

http://www.wbdcp.com/dcpmap.pdf (broken link)
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Old 04-05-2007, 09:44 AM
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There are some renderings of the project Intermodal Transportation Center
very exciting design for Wilkes-Barre from Facility Design Ltd.

You'll have to work to get to it....go to the site below, then clik 'Projects' then clik "Urban Revitalization" where you'll find the Intermodal and several other area jobs....this firm's output made quite an impression on me...can;t wait to see the finished product(s). I understand that the funding for the Intermodal is finally in place with a final tap of $6 Million....so, dig they must...

here you go:

http://www.facilitydesignltd.com/

It's all good and terrific to see such progress.....
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Old 04-05-2007, 10:21 AM
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Thanks for posting that link. We actually received a large-scale copy of those maps about a year ago in the Times-Leader, but I think my parents threw it away. It's nearly impossible to read the text on that online map, but I can definitely recognize some of the more prominent features on it.

1.) Innovation Center: A business incubator along South Main Street, next-door to Boscov's. It houses the Barnes & Noble/Starbucks complex on the first-floor with a few high-tech start-ups on the upper floors, including the Joint Urban Studies Center.

2.) PA Department of Labor & Industry Building: This complex caused quite a stir because it was an example of "reverse-sprawl," something you nearly never see happening in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The complex was formerly housed in a suburban setting out in Wilkes-Barre Township, but it relocated its employees to this new building along South Washington Street in the downtown in part to help further its renaissnce.

3.) Alumni Hall: King's College, my school, renovated the former run-down "Margaritaville" structure across the street from campus and transformed it into student housing and a basement fitness center (which will soon be housed in the soon-to-be renovated Scandlon Gymnasium just to the lower-left of Alumni Hall, which was recently-announced and is not yet featured on this map).

4.) Monarch Court Pedestrian Mall: Also on the campus of King's College, a one-block stretch of North Franklin Street was turned into a cul-de-sac a few years back to help unite the campus, which used to sprawl across several busy roadways. There were often near-misses between motorists and students, especially when classes were changing and the area got congested with pedestrian traffic. The court is now gorgeously-landscaped and is home to the annual campus Christmas tree.

5.) Moreau Court: Several years ago, housing for the Holy Cross priests who serve our campus was constructed along North Street, across the street from the Virgin Mary Grotto. The complex consists of modern two-story townhomes in earthy tones with plenty of parking and was built, in part, to help free up more space in on-campus housing to help accomodate the college's rapidly-growing enrollments.

6.) Children's Service Center: I'm not familiar with this project, but I'd assume that the CSC renovated some older buildings to house its new facility.

7.) Public Square Fountain: After years of neglect, Public Square is humming with activity again. The park-like setting in midtown is once again accentuated by the restoration of the old fountain in the middle of the square, which operates seasonally.

8.) Removal of Downtown Canopies: In the post-flood era of the
mid-1970s, a local engineering firm made the aesthetically-unappealing pitch for a "Jetson"-style streetscape system including bulky streetlights and a glass canopy system. The old streetlights began crashing to the ground several years ago due to their deterioration, and the canopy was so dingy that even professional cleaning couldn't make it shine. As such, the downtown canopy system was dismantled (enhancing visibility of downtown storefronts), and the old streetlights were replaced with attractive new, Victorian-era ones.

9.) Along South Franklin Street in the historic district lies the magnificent Stegmaier Mansion, which now houses ArtsYOUniverse, a community effort to promote the arts in the city.

10.) "Northampton & Main" Project: In the summer of 2006, the city's first movie theater opened its doors along East Northampton Street. In the block surrounding the theater, new retail and living space is now available and is currently being marketed as part of the "Diamond City Entertainment District," which now also includes Campus Square Billiards, Bart & Urby's Bistro, Barnes & Noble, Club Mardi Gras, Starbucks, and FUSE Martini Club, along with upcoming Quizno's Subs and Jannuzzi's Pizza along with existing tenants such as Katana Hibachi, F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts, Boscov's Department Store, and Subway.

11.) New streetlight system (Refer to #8)

12. & 13.) Wilkes University made the leap to try to incorporate its campus onto South Main Street a couple of years ago with a new university center that now houses an Einstein Bros. Bagel Cafe and other campus-friendly amenities.

14.) CityVest Renovations: CityVest, the same local non-profit group that is restoring the Hotel Sterling, has also been busy restoring homes along South Franklin Street into liveable dwellings.

15.) River Commons: Currently well underway is the revamping of the city's waterfront. Plans include two new large portals in the levee wall (one at the end of Northampton Street and one near the end of Union Street), that will permit downtown residents, students, office workers, etc. to wander to the riverfront for recreation. Also included are plans for an amphitheater, artificial lake, landscaping, and the "calming" of River Street by narrowing the roadway with a center tree lawn to make the speed-prone commuter belt less hazardous for pedestrians who may want to cross River Street to access the site.

16.) Hotel Sterling: CityVest has already just about fully razed the old, hulking rear tower of the Hotel Sterling, and the historic corner edifice is being lovingly-restored into about 60 upscale condominiums, class-A office space on the second floor, and ground-level retail space. I'm unsure about its plans for the site of the former tower (I'd imagine some sort of parking garage would be needed here, even though the artists' rendering shows what looks to be a hotel).

17.) The existing parking garage along South Washington Street is supposed to be renovated and expanded (although I think this project may be dead).

18.) First National Bank Building: This building along Public Square has been rumored for a number of projects, including an upscale downtown restaurant.

19.) Museum of the Susquehanna: This is actually news to me too! There's currently a small office building next-door to the Hotel Sterling along North River Street. I'm guessing the tenants will be relocated through eminent domain to make way for this new museum?

20.) Irem Temple: This beautiful religious building along North Franklin Street is supposed to be renovated and somewhat transformed into an educational center.

21.) North Main & East North: This pair of blighted industrial buildings has long drawn the ire of King's College officials, as the northern gateway to campus is marred by their presence. I spoke with campus president Fr. O'Hara last year while in Manhattan, and he mentioned the possibility of a conversion to loft housing for faculty members (most of whom live right across the river in Kingston due to the current "in-town" housing shortage crisis in Downtown Wilkes-Barre).

22.) Coal Street Realignment: Coal Street, the city's eastern gateway from I-81, currently stops abruptly at Wilkes-Barre Boulevard before it can enter the downtown area. Plans call for the realigning of the roadway to make it intersect with Union Street, making it easier for out-of-towners to reach downtown.

23.) Wilkes-Barre Broadband Communications & Tech Center: Currently an abandoned warehouse along the SE corner of North Washington Street & Bennett Street, this parcel will soon be transformed into a sleek, modern building.

24.) Wilkes University is continuing to expand and improve its campus. It wants to have a law school built downtown by 2009.

25.) Murray Complex (See Siniawa project details with photos above)

26.) Coal Street Park: Located near several housing projects in a rougher part of Wilkes-Barre, Coal Street Park is expected to be revamped once the realignment of Coal Street has been completed.

27.) Kirby Park: Improvements in this wonderful city asset are ongoing.

28.) Market Street Square: Plans call for a new visitors' center, as well as an intermodal transportation center, which will someday offer commuter rail access to NYC.

29.) Barnes & Noble: Already mentioned.
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Old 04-05-2007, 12:45 PM
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^^^^you can magnify the small lettering within the interactive map.......the overall map can be increased in size.......click on the '+'. zoom-in too to the right of center etc. as necessary
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Old 04-05-2007, 12:54 PM
City Boy in The 'Burbs
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OMG! Orgasm!!! I just did some poking around on that firm's web site, and I just located a "master plan" for all of Downtown Pittston! There's a map that shows tree-lined streets throughout the city, new streetscape improvements, a reonstructed train station that will house retail space, a renovated pumping station that will house a restaurant, an amphitheater along the riverfront, etc. The images are incredible! It looks like Pittston is about to hit a huge growth spurt after all!
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Old 04-05-2007, 01:19 PM
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^^^ Yes.... as I say, Facility Design Ltd. has a lot going on in the region....
including the renovation of the old RR depot in Scranton...another great save, if it comes to fruition....it's all on their site....


I understood that the officials at Wilkes were going to put the proposed law school to a vote in early April...has that vote taken place?
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Old 06-25-2007, 02:32 PM
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Anyone have more info on this? Is it still moving forward?
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