Midway Shopping Center in Wyoming suffers power outage

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Our Opinion: Farming is dangerous work – a fact that shouldn’t be lost on visitors to The Lands at Hillside Farms

WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Panzitta Enterprises has submitted a letter of intent to buy the Times Leader building on North Main Street. One possible tenant is the Wilkes-Barre Area School District, school board solicitor Ray Wendolowski said.Panzitta&#8217;s letter of intent set a deadline of Jan. 16 for a final decision on the purchase. Panzitta made a down payment to secure time, so the building has been taken off the market. It had been listed with a price tag of $1.3 million, according to the listing agent&#8217;s website.Wilkes-Barre Area&#8217;s interest in the building, which is next to the property of Coughlin High School, was first made public when several board members as well as architects and engineers from the district&#8217;s &#8220;design team&#8221; &#8212; four area firms hired to help decide the fate of the district&#8217;s three aging high schools &#8212; toured the Times Leader Oct. 26.At the time, Wendolowski said the board had been looking at several buildings near Coughlin as possible options in housing students. The school board voted in June to close Meyers and Coughlin high schools, merging grades nine through 12 into a new building at the Coughlin site.The board has discussed multiple options to house students during construction work, including purchasing modular classrooms, putting lower grades at a renovated Mackin Elementary building while restricting higher grades to the newer annex section of Coughlin, and implementing split schedules that would have students essentially taking turns attending classes at one building, some in the morning some in the evening.The board voted Nov. 9 to purchase modular classrooms at an estimated cost of $2.25 million or more, but has taken no other action toward the purchase and Wendolowski has said several times all options are still on the table.On Nov. 24, Wendolowski confirmed new options had been proposed to the district, but did not comment on rumors a contractor had offered to purchase the Times Leader building and lease it to the district. On Monday, he confirmed Panzitta has submitted a written &#8220;bare bones&#8221; proposal to that effect, but the full board didn&#8217;t hear the proposal until they met for the regular monthly meeting Monday night.Asked by Attorney Joe Borland why the proposal wasn&#8217;t on the agenda, Wendolowski said the board did not have time to review it.Panzitta did not return a call for comment. The company is one of several contractors that are doing the renovations at Mackin. Wendolowski said Panzitta is proposing the company would own the building and is looking for tenants to rent space, with the district one possibility.Wendolowski didn&#8217;t know who the others might be, but King&#8217;s College has expanded toward Public Square in recent years, most notably with the purchase and renovation of the former Ramada Hotel, now King&#8217;s on the Square, and Panzitta has done extensive work for the college, including the renovation of the hotel.King&#8217;s spokesman John McAndrew said the college does not comment on possible development plans.<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Mark Guydishmguydish@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta>Reach Mark Guydish at 570-991-6112 or on Twitter @TLMarkGuydish</shirttailMeta></div>

Panzitta Enterprises looking to buy and lease Times Leader building, Wilkes-Barre Area a possible tenant