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Accomplishments

What have we been up to?

2023:

  • In May, the new Public Square performance area, whose design was funded by DCP, was dedicated with a Fine Arts Fiesta concert by the Spin Doctors.
  • DCP supported D&D Realty Group in its rehabilitation of the long-vacant four-story building at 116 South Main Street; the circa-1914 building now houses 36 market-rate residential loft units and Building Blocks Learning Center's downtown child-care center.
  • Next door, DCP worked with Wilkes University and adjoining property owners to transform a vacated alley into “the Courtyard at 116,” a new public space serving as the central gathering space for Downtown’s SOMA Arts District.
  • DCP secured a DCED Keystone Communities Planning Grant to fund the design work necessary for the next phase of improvements to Public Square.
  • In March, DCP launched its redesigned website.
  • In May, DCP hosted the state’s first Diverse Business Pre-Certification Session. This program, made possible through DCP’s Main Street Program designation, showed eligible business owners how to qualify for Diverse Business Enterprise Certification.
  • Thanks to Luzerne County, DCP secured a $494,624 Luzerne County ARPA Grant to double the size of the Downtown Ambassador Team, including a new Quality of Life Ambassador to assist the at-risk population.
  • DCP planted another 10 shade trees in Downtown Wilkes-Barre, continuing its partnership with TreePennsylvania.

2022:

  • Through a partnership with the Times Leader, DCP presented the “Downtown Rebound” newspaper feature, featuring weekly columns by Downtown stakeholders and profiles of Downtown businesses, which ran for 52 consecutive weeks.
  • Thanks to Mayor George Brown and the City of Wilkes-Barre, DCP secured $300,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for its “Downtown Rebound” initiative to improve Downtown visitation and offset the loss of revenue from Downtown employees who are now working remotely.
  • DCP was awarded a six-year Neighborhood Partnership Program (NPP) award in support of its Downtown Action Plan. The NPP is supported through $200,000 in annual contributions from Highmark, M&T Bank, Mericle, and PPL.
  • DCP began efforts to rebrand and reposition the second block of South Main Street, Livingston Lane, and the first block of East Northampton Street as the SOMA Arts District.
  • DCP organized the Downtown Artistic Forum - a quarterly meeting facilitating networking, collaboration, and cross-promotion among Downtown's arts and culture organizations.
  • DCP conducted its 2022 Downtown Wilkes-Barre Perception & Use Survey.
  • DCP installed four new pet waste stations for the convenience of dog-owning Downtown residents.
  • DCP planted another 10 shade trees in Downtown Wilkes-Barre, continuing its partnership with TreePennsylvania.

2021:

  • DCP secured Neighborhood Assistance Program contributions to fund the startup of the “Give Hope Team” – a pilot program, managed by Volunteers of America, which provides clinical outreach to Downtown Wilkes-Barre’s at-risk population.
  • DCP convened a Social Issues Task Force to address Downtown’s at-risk population and its impact on the public environment. The meetings bring together city, county, state, federal, and agency representatives.
  • DCP launched its “Sunsets on South Main” event, a monthly live-music happy hour presented during from May through September in the Midtown Village courtyard.
  • DCP launched its annual “Downtown Discoveries” festival, designed to attract families to Downtown Wilkes-Barre and its businesses.
  • DCP used a DCED Keystone Communities Planning Grant to fund architectural plans to guide the rehabilitation of five historic commercial facades on the second block of West Market Street.
  • DCP planted another 10 shade trees in Downtown Wilkes-Barre, continuing its partnership with TreePennsylvania.

2020:

  • During the COVID-19 pandemic, DCP took a lead role with crisis response, shifting its marketing to provide the downtown business community, the public, and local news media with lists of open downtown businesses, links to information about business assistance programs, and other time-critical information.
  • DCP continued its on-street cleaning operations, which were classified as essential services.
  • DCP helped the City of Wilkes-Barre repurpose an existing loan fund to serve as an Emergency Relief Loan Program, and assisted downtown businesses in applying for federal PPP and EIDL loans, Pennsylvania CWCA loans, and COVID-19 Relief Statewide Small Business Assistance grants.
  • DCP secured $82,600 in Luzerne County CARES Act funds and created the “Get Your Restaurant Outdoors” (GYRO) Grant program to help downtown restaurants expand outdoor and takeout dining capacity or implement indoor safety measures in response to the COVID pandemic. 22 downtown establishments received pass-through grants; the program also included ongoing marketing and promotional assistance.
  • DCP created the “College Ambassador” program, in which local college students provided direct technical assistance to get downtown storefront businesses online and help them market to the college community.
  • DCP took the lead in ensuring that Wilkes-Barre’s weekly Farmers Market could continue during the pandemic, working with the City, the PA Dept. of Agriculture, and Penn State Extension to redesign the Public Square event so that it could be held safely.
  • DCP launched “Downtown Rebound” – a series of promotions to return consumers to its hard-hit downtown. DCP and other Main Street programs.
  • DCP spearheaded a successful effort to secure “Main Street Program” designation for Downtown Wilkes-Barre from the PA Department of Community and Economic Development DCP manages Downtown’s Main Street program.
  • DCP partnered with the Wilkes-Barre Chamber to hold an open-air holiday market on Public Square, fabricating 12 market sheds which allowed vendors to bring new economic activity to Downtown.
  • DCP began an effort to repair Downtown’s tree canopy with the planting of 20 new shade trees – funded through a Bare-Root Tree grant from TreePennsylvania - with the help of the City, Penn State Extension, and volunteers.

2019:

  • A long-standing DCP goal was achieved when King’s College completed its $7.8 renovation of the historic former Spring Brook Water Supply building at 30 North Franklin Street, transforming it into the Mulligan Center for Engineering – the new home of the college’s engineering programs.
  • DCP secured a grant from The Luzerne Foundation to install and plant 12 new self-watering sidewalk planters on the third block of South Main Street and the first block of East South Street.
  • DCP was proud to be a partner in presenting the “Rockin’ the River” concert series, which brought free live large-scale concerts to the River Common’s Millennium Circle during three Friday evenings in July.
  • DCP managed the “Art Block” monthly gallery walk event on the second block of South Main Street, culminating in the September event, which featured Keystone College’s Mobile Glass Blowing Studio.

2018:

  • Downtown’s growth as the region’s walk-to-everything neighborhood of choice continued with the opening of 48 new market-rate residential units at D&D Realty’s Riverview West (11 West Market Street) and Hampton Park West (39 East Northampton Street) developments, and the opening of 60 new market-rate units at The Bank Downtown (8 West Market Street).
  • DCP’s work led to the designation of the core of Downtown Wilkes-Barre – Census Tract 2001 – as a federal Qualified Opportunity Zone.
  • DCP secured a $1,200 PA Council on the Arts grant to support the “Art Block” Third Friday Art Walk.
  •  DCP’s second annual Holiday Pop-Up Shop in Midtown Village, made possible by the PPL Foundation and organized in partnership with the Chamber, DWBBA, and The Times Leader, brought new holiday shoppers to Downtown Wilkes-Barre while reinforcing our center city’s role as a holiday shopping destination.

2017:

  • The big news of 2017 was Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Company’s decision to purchase 39 Public Square for use as its new home office, significantly increasing its downtown workforce. This move by GUARD –already Downtown Wilkes-Barre’s largest corporate headquarters – represents a substantial gain in jobs and investment for our center city.
  • In 2017, DCP installed the first of twenty new wayfinding signs to guide visitors to center city destinations. A dozen different partners made that new signage possible; similar partnerships resulted in DCP’s new printed Downtown Wilkes-Barre Visitor Map & Guide, another tool introducing visitors to center city’s businesses and attractions.
  •  DCP’s Holiday Pop-Up Shops in Midtown Village, made possible by the PPL Foundation and organized in partnership with the Chamber, DWBBA, and The Times Leader, was a big hit, expanding Downtown’s role as a holiday shopping destination while providing retailers with new opportunities to test-drive downtown storefronts.
  • Partnerships between the City of Wilkes-Barre, the Downtown Wilkes-Barre Business Association, and DCP ensured a full range of seasonal Downtown events: three parades; Public Square’s Farmers Market, Easter Egg Hunt, Trick-or-Treating, and Holiday Market; Downtown Restaurant Week; Small Business Saturday; and more. Targeted marketing initiatives, such as the reusable Farmers Market shopping bags sponsored by Highmark, served to promote Downtown’s signature events to new audiences.

2016:

  • During 2016, LSEO, Pepperjam, ReferLocal.com, and others expanded in Downtown, while other tech companies, such as PlanGuru, relocated here, furthering Downtown’s emergence as the center of the region’s startup sector.
  • The innovation district’s new hub – the Wilkes-Barre Chamber’s THINK Center – opened in April, providing co-working and conference space and a 50-seat multimedia theater.
  • Additional startup businesses are slated for Public Square’s historic First National Bank building, whose rehabilitation was highlighted by Governor Wolf in October, when he visited Downtown to announce a $2 million state grant in support of the “Innovation Squared” initiative.
  • The year also brought the launch of “Wilkes-Barre Connect” – a collaboration of local service providers to ensure that all startup and existing businesses have access to the resources, services, and facilities they need to grow right here.
  • Our institutional anchors, King’s College and Wilkes University, both continued to weave their campuses into the downtown fabric during 2016. Wilkes began work on its new Karambelas Media Center and the $3.5 million South Campus Gateway. On Public Square, King’s College’s “King’s on the Square” complex became home to The Commonwealth Medical College’s new downtown offices, the base for TCMC’s Behavioral Health Initiative – and to the region’s first Chick-fil-A.
  • Earlier in the year, Wilkes University began construction on a new Sordoni Art Gallery. The new Sordoni is located on the second block of South Main Street, where it will join the Circle Centre for the Arts, Marquis Art & Frame and its Second Floor Gallery, and Knot Just Any Day in Downtown’s emergent “arts district.” The arts district idea is being championed by the Wyoming Valley Art League and other arts and business organizations; they envision a critical mass of arts and culture activities strengthening our center city.
  • Collaboration between the City of Wilkes-Barre, the Downtown Wilkes-Barre Business Association, and DCP brought a year’s worth of wonderful events – including two holiday parades, the Public Square Easter Egg Hunt, Downtown Restaurant Week, Small Business Saturday, and two new Public Square events: October’s family-friendly Trick-or-Treat and December’s Holiday Market.

2015:

  • DCP’s Downtown Action Plan served as the basis for a collaborative submission to Frontier Communication’s “America’s Best Communities” competition in partnership with the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber and the City of Wilkes-Barre. As a result, Wilkes-Barre was selected as a semifinalist in the ABC competition, winning $50,000 to refine the plan and proceed to the quarterfinalist round.
  • DCP expanded its seasonal hanging flower basket program to include streetlamps along Main Street from Union to Northampton Streets, and from Market Street from River Street to Pennsylvania Avenue.
  • DCP won a $5,000 grant from the Pocono Forest and Waters Conservation Landscape’s 2015 mini-grant program to implement the pilot phase of a new downtown wayfinding signage program.
  • DCP used community feedback from its 2014 survey and workshops to craft a new Downtown Action Plan to guide the next five years of downtown progress.

2014:

  • DCP conducted the 2014 Downtown Perception & Use Survey, an online survey completed by more than 800 people, which provided us with clear evidence of downtown visitation and perception trends, strengths, and weaknesses.
  • DCP began installing and maintaining hanging flower baskets on streetlamps around the perimeter of Public Square from May until September.

2013:

  • DCP began “This Week in Downtown Wilkes-Barre,” our weekly E-newsletter, which provides the upcoming week’s Downtown events and exhibits to more than 1000 in-boxes each week.
  • DCP worked with the local arts community to reinvent the “Third Friday Diamond City Art Walk,” a monthly Downtown gallery walk, including more than 15 arts venues, that has been held since 2006.
  • DCP and DWBBA introduced Downtown Wilkes-Barre Restaurant Week, a new annual promotion celebrating Downtown’s emergence as the region’s “Restaurant Row.”

2012:

  • Downtown ratepayers voted to renew DCP’s Downtown Wilkes-Barre Business Improvement District for a new six-year term.

2008:

  • DCP created the Downtown Wilkes-Barre Business Improvement District Façade Grant Program, which provides grants for the rehabilitation of commercial storefronts, signage, and facades within the Downtown Wilkes-Barre Business Improvement District. DCP created the Façade Grant Program in order to help Downtown’s property and business owners make appropriate improvements that encourage best practices in storefront, façade, and signage design.

2007:

2004:

  • DCP organized a Downtown Design Workshop, involving two public meetings and an all-day design charrette cosponsored by the local AIA chapter. The Design Workshop generated a collection of alternative design concepts, helping the community to visualize Downtown’s potential, and to develop consensus about Downtown’s future physical form.
  • DCP and our five local colleges developed the Downtown/Collegetown Initiative, a student-led program that has involved the local college community in the downtown revitalization process. The results of a study conducted by the Dt/Ct Steering Committee and a class at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, designed to understand the local college community as a distinct market segment, were presented to the public at a 2004 public forum; those recommendations have formed the basis for initiatives like the “Party on the Square” (see below), the Barnes & Noble Joint Collegiate Bookstore, and the Downtown Student Discount Card.
  • DCP initiated a new Downtown event – “Party on the Square” – bringing students together from the five Wilkes-Barre area colleges and universities to Downtown each fall. With bands, contests, and giveaways, this event has grown exponentially each year.
  • DCP and the City created a Downtown Lighting Committee in January of 2004. The Committee was responsible for framing the discussion about new streetlights in Downtown Wilkes-Barre, determining the parameters for the multi-million dollar streetlight replacement project that ensued.

2003:

  • DCP created a Strategic Market Development Plan, prepared by a team of national consultants, to serve as a market-based “business plan” for Downtown Wilkes-Barre.

2002:

  • DCP successfully fought to prevent the demolition of a number of historic commercial buildings on South Main Street. Those buildings were ultimately rehabilitated as part of the Northampton & Main mixed-use development.

2001:

  • DCP created the “Clean & Green Program,” a voluntarily funded supplementary services district that paved the way for the creation of the Downtown Wilkes-Barre Business Improvement District. The Clean & Green Program operated from 2001 until the inception of the Business Improvement District.
  • DCP created the Downtown Residents Association. The DRA, which provides Downtown’s residents with a vehicle for neighborhood advocacy, has been active since September 2001. DRA’s activities have included mayoral debates; a neighborhood lighting survey; a regular speakers bureau; and annual events raising funds for downtown beautification.