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By MARK GUYDISH markg@leader.net
Sunday, January 30, 2000 Page: 3
HAZLETON – Shop downtown, anchored by a million-square-foot complex of
retail, professional services and entertainment, all with free parking.
For soft-spoken Michael Greco Sr., it’s not a dream, it’s an imminent,
necessary reality.
Greco has been buying downtown property for years but has left many of the
storefronts vacant, a move that continues to raise eyebrows among merchants
and others pushing for downtown revitalization.
“A lot of empty buildings downtown are owned by one person, and I’m really
looking forward to learning Mr. Greco’s plans,” said Andrea Kosko, who, along
with her sister, runs Fellin’s Jewelers. Kosko is an active advocate of the
Chamber of Commerce’s fledgling downtown committee.
But Greco insists he has a plan that will bring a renaissance to the
struggling shopping district, and he said the plan includes room for existing
merchants dedicated to downtown. In fact he concedes it can’t work without
them.
“We need to join together.” Greco said, “There is no downtown right
now.”
He politely refuses to give details beyond the general size and content of
his project, but the 70-year-old pharmacist insists all the pieces are in
place and the time is ripe for a plan he devised in 1997.
This is hardly new stuff for the city native. Greco pushed a major project
downtown decades ago when he proposed a mall before the Laurel Mall opened. He
said he could not muster sufficient backing at the time and the vision died.
Learning from that mistake, he’s keeping his plans secret until he’s
confident the project can succeed. Investing his own money, he now owns much
of the property needed to do the project, and what he doesn’t own is
controlled by the city.
So with cooperation from the city and downtown merchants, the project could
become a reality in two or three years. In fact if it takes longer than that,
he said, downtown may decline too far to be resuscitated.
Greco likens the project to a boxer preparing for a prize fight. “If I
enter the ring, I’m going to win.” He said. He cites his original success
when he opened a pharmacy on Broad Street at a time when downtown was rich
with pharmacies.
“In three years I was the No. 1 pharmacy,” doing five times more business
than the national average, Greco said. He credits his success to being in tune
with Hazleton area shoppers and providing the shopping experience and
selection they wanted.
He believes his new project will succeed for the same reasons, with the
right mix of businesses ultimately drawing people away from the malls and back
downtown.