Progress

August 8, 2009

Site ready for students

New structure at King’s makes tight deadline

By Steve Mocarsky smocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
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WILKES-BARRE – Despite ongoing construction and a mixture of challenges that had to be overcome, the newest structure at King’s College will be ready for students when classes begin near the end of this month.

Officials expect that the occupancy permit for the four-story, 95,000-square-foot building that fronts North Main Street between East Union and East North streets will be secured at about the same time fall athletes arrive on Thursday, college spokesman John McAndrew said.

Until furniture can be moved in over several days, the athletes will be housed temporarily at other facilities. The remainder of non-commuting students are due to arrive on Aug. 29 and 30.

David Yeager, president of project developer Radnor Property Group, said it’s “unheard of to construct a four-story building in an urban environment in less than a year’s time.”

“We’re excited. We’re certainly proceeding on schedule, and it’s a pretty tight schedule. But with everybody working together, from King’s to the contractor and particularly the city, we’ll be able to have the apartments ready by the start of school. It was a complete team effort,” Yeager said.

City officials were “immediately responsive” when code interpretation issues arose or an inspection was needed. And a typical Wilkes-Barre winter and a rainy spring caused delays, but Sordoni Construction Services authorized overtime for employees to meet deadlines. Everyone involved in the project “was understanding of King’s critical dates of receiving students. If you miss a September date, you miss half a year,” he said.

The building, dubbed “Gateway Corners” by Radnor, is the heart of the North Main Street Gateway Project. It’s a collaborative effort between King’s, Radnor and Kinship Square – a nonprofit organization designed to spur development in the city.

Kinship Square owns all the project land, which once housed the former Rodano’s building and the long-vacant, crumbling and blighted Corcoran Printing and Mary MacIntosh Laundry buildings, and is leasing the land to Radnor in a long-term deal. King’s is leasing space in the building from Radnor.

In addition to housing classrooms and student apartments, there will be a day-care center run by Hildebrandt Learning Centers. And King’s food service, Sodexho, will operate a restaurant in the section at the corner of North Main and East North streets, said David Selingo, board chairman of Kinship Square.

The restaurant will offer counter service and provide tables for dining. It will be open to students and the general public.

“It will be open early in the morning for people dropping off their children at the day care and it will be open late on weekend nights,” Selingo said.

Yeager said he’s most proud of the project architecture, with the beige bricks matching the design of many of King’s other buildings as well as “the manufacturing genre of some of the other manufacturing buildings of years ago. Our goal was to blend in to the community,” he said.

Selingo said the project “will truly change the entire nature of that neighborhood.”

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