Mayor George Brown next week will ask City Council to authorize city officials to move forward with the sale of 59-63 Public Square — the long-vacant former First National Bank Building.
Bill O’Boyle | Times Leader
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The interior of the former First National Bank Building is seen in 2020.
Times Leader file photo
WILKES-BARRE — Mayor George Brown next week will ask City Council to authorize city officials to move forward with the sale of 59-63 Public Square — the long-vacant former First National Bank Building.
Mayor Brown said an offer to purchase the building for $450,000 has been submitted by Bricklynn, LLC.
The transaction will be on City Council’s agenda at the Thursday, April 13, regular meeting, which begins at 6 p.m.
Mayor Brown said a representative of Bricklynn, LLC, Joseph Frederick, said the developer “plans to convert the building into a creative retail space for the community which will stimulate economic growth and neighborhood revitalization to the surrounding area of downtown Wilkes-Barre.”
As previously reported by the Times Leader, former bank was built in 1906 and had been vacant for years before the city bought it for $225,000 at a Luzerne County delinquent-tax sale in 2004.
Brown told the Times Leader in 2020 that more than $1.5 million in state gaming grants had gone into stabilizing the roof, the skylights and the exterior and removing lead paint and asbestos to make it marketable.
In other business this week, Council will:
• Consider authorizing the proper city officials to sign all necessary documents related to awarding the Solomon Creek Letter of Map Revision (LOMR) application contract to the most qualified firm, Borton Lawson Engineering, LLC., in the amount of $76,500.
Hanover Township will be responsible for its pro-rata share of the contract price and any reimbursable expenses incurred.
• Consider authorizing the proper city officials to file a Business Plan and Application with Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, for a Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program Grant (RCAP) in the amount of $500,000 for assistance with the King’s College Student Success Center Project and that the proper city officials designate King’s College to be the administrator/sub-applicant and that the cooperation agreement will also stipulate that the City and college are obligated to comply with RCAP terms and conditions of this grant agreement.
• Consider appointing Stanley Jackson to the city Housing Authority.
Reach Bill O’Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.