Business

Theater complex Chamber marketing retail space as deal to sell Northampton & Main development pending

January 31, 2008

Potential tenants eye downtown

By Ron Bartizek rbartizek@timesleader.com
Business & Consumer / City Editor

WILKES-BARRE – A deal to sell the downtown Northampton & Main complex is still weeks away, but local marketing of vacant retail space around the Wilkes-Barre Movies 14 theater is in full swing.

The Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry, which built the $30 million mixed-use development, has contracted with a local real estate agency to list 23,000 square feet of store space available on the street level of the block.

“We’ve seen a lot of activity,” said Eileen R. Melone, whose brokerage is located on Carey Avenue in the city. She said she’s shown the property to more than 10 potential tenants – a mixture of local and out-of-town developers – since getting the listing in late November. One of them, from the Boston area, has experience in small cities on the rise and liked what he saw.

“He was very complimentary about what is happening in Wilkes-Barre,” Melone said.

One reason Melone got the listing was that she made it available on the Wilkes-Barre Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service, said chamber CEO Todd Vonderheid. That allows other Realtors to have access to the specifications and to share in any commission payments. He said the chamber solicited listing proposals from member agencies before the board chose Melone.

“That was an important piece for us,” Vonderheid said, because exclusive reliance on a national broker had not generated the expected interest.

Melone said only one other Realtor has asked to show the space.

Vonderheid said earlier this month an agreement to sell the project to Carlsberg Management Co. of Los Angeles might be executed quickly. He stretched the timeline on Wednesday, saying that pre-sale research is ongoing.

“We’re working on it every day and expect that in a couple of months we’ll have some great news,” he said.

A call placed to Carlsberg Management on Tuesday was not returned.

Uncertainty over the sale may be causing tenants to wait before committing to a lease, Melone said. But that reluctance is being offset by the success of the theaters, which on average draw more than 10,000 moviegoers a week.

Gary Isaac, manager of the Januzzi’s restaurant that opened near the theaters in July, said that kind of traffic has led to a good volume of business.

“We get a crowd for the movies,” Isaac said. “On weekends it’s crazy.”

The theater complex isn’t the only downtown property drawing interest. Vonderheid said three potential buyers have looked at the former Blum Bros. building at 27 S. Main St. “One is very, very serious,” he said.

Vonderheid said negotiations to sell 28 condominium spaces above the retail shops also are making progress, and the potential buyer is talking with construction firms and brokers to finish and sell the residences.

“It is a parallel track and that is moving just as fast,” he said.

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