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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; More than 100 years after it was built, Nicholas Dye and his partners want to put the city&#8217;s first skyscraper back on the map.</p><p>Dye and brothers Adam and Casey Donahue, of D&amp;D Realty, bought the PNC Bank building on West Market Street and have started renovating it into 40 upscale apartments and office space in their latest downtown development.</p><p>The $4.5 million Riverview West project builds upon the real estate investment firm&#8217;s past success of making the old new again in terms of buildings and the city that&#8217;s attracting a growing cluster of high-tech companies and their young, educated and well-paid workforce.</p><p>Four of the apartments on the top 11th floor have been leased even before Sheetrock has been screwed into the floor-to-ceiling skeleton of steel studs in place.</p><p>&#8220;That&#8217;s just spillover from our other projects, no advertising,&#8221; Dye said Thursday during a media tour of the work in progress.</p><p>Work began approximately a month ago for a projected completion at the end of summer 2017. The first tenants are expected to move in by the spring and will benefit from reduced rents because the property is located in a Keystone Opportunity Zone that provides local and state tax exemptions.</p><p>Compared to how long it&#8217;s taken to get to this point, Larry Newman, executive director of the Diamond City Partnership, the downtown revitalization organization, said it&#8217;s a short step on a decade-long journey.</p><p>&#8220;What you are seeing here is a continuation of the progress that we started,&#8221; said Newman, who along with other city officials and Wico van Genderen, president of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce, took the tour.</p><p>There were skeptics, questioning whether the downtown revitalization would gain momentum, Newman said.</p><p>&#8220;The reality is, here we are at the end of 2016 and evidence is all around us. It is no more evident than these guys, D&amp;D Realty,&#8221; Newman said.</p><p>Besides the businesses and restaurants and bars that have located downtown, Van Genderen pointed out that the internet marketing company Pepperjam has decided to stay put in the Innovation Center. And farther down South Main Street, LSEO.com, which was recently bought by UM Technologies, has it offices.</p><p>&#8220;Think about it for a second, these guys are making a $5 million investment here in the city and they&#8217;re doing it because it makes good business sense to do it,&#8221; van Genderen said.</p><p>The developers are keen to the fact that millennials are attracted to Wilkes-Barre as a result of its transformation into a &#8220;secure, walkable, vibrant city,&#8221; van Genderen said.</p><p>Between 2011 and 2016, a total of 92 new households of the 25-to-40 year old age group demographic have moved into downtown residences, according to Newman, whose Diamond City Partnership tracks such data.</p><p>&#8220;We have almost 40 units on the other side of town,&#8221; said Dye, referring to the Hampton Park East and West developments on East Northampton Street and The Alleghany Lofts on South Main Street. &#8220;Our tenants, the average household income is near $100,000 a year.&#8221;</p><p>The building was built by Abram Nesbitt in 1909 for the Second National Bank of Wilkes-Barre, said Tony Brooks, a Wilkes-Barre city councilman and local historian. There will be five apartments each on floors four through 11. Four of the apartments will have a western exposure with views of the Susquehanna River, hence the name Riverview West. The fifth apartment faces Public Square on the east. Rents start at $950 a month. The third floor will be for office space, and PNC Bank will occupy the first two floors.</p><p>The building location and the KOZ status were among the factors that led D&amp;D to purchase and develop the building, said Casey Donahue.</p><p>&#8220;The views are incredible. It feels like you&#8217;re in a big city when you live in this building,&#8221; Donahue said. &#8220;That&#8217;s what people want.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Apartments in the Riverview West project will have an expansive view of the West Side of the Wyoming Valley and the Susquehanna River. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_TTL121616DND3-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Apartments in the Riverview West project will have an expansive view of the West Side of the Wyoming Valley and the Susquehanna River. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger |Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_TTL121616DND1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Participating in a tour during D&amp;D Realty&#8217;s preview of its Riverview West project in the PNC Bank building on West Market Street, Wilkes-Barre, on Thursday afternoon are, left to right, Casey Donahue, of D&amp;D; Larry Newman, executive director of the Diamond City Partnership; Adam Donahue, of D&amp;D; Nicholas Dye of D&amp;D; and Rico van Genderen, president of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_TTL121616DND1-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Participating in a tour during D&amp;D Realty&#8217;s preview of its Riverview West project in the PNC Bank building on West Market Street, Wilkes-Barre, on Thursday afternoon are, left to right, Casey Donahue, of D&amp;D; Larry Newman, executive director of the Diamond City Partnership; Adam Donahue, of D&amp;D; Nicholas Dye of D&amp;D; and Rico van Genderen, president of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Commerce. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger |Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_TTL121616DND2-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">The metal studs are in place for the apartments on the 11th floor of the Riverview West project in PNC Bank building on West Market Street, Wilkes-Barre. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_TTL121616DND2-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>The metal studs are in place for the apartments on the 11th floor of the Riverview West project in PNC Bank building on West Market Street, Wilkes-Barre. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger |Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_TTL121616DND3-ForWebOnly.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/web1_TTL121616DND3-ForWebOnly.jpg</photo3><caption3></caption3><photoCredit3>Aimee Dilger |Times Leader </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>FAST FACTS<ins> ON RIVERVIEW WEST</ins></strong></p><p>&#8226; Total cost: $4.5 million:</p><p>&#8226; Total space: 60,000 square feet of living space, 13,000 square feet of office space.</p><p>&#8226; Number of apartments: 40.</p><p>&#8226; Monthly rent: Starts at $950.</p><p>&#8226; Apartment size: Between 650 and 1,300 square feet.</p><p>&#8226; Apartment features: One or two bedrooms, spa-like bathrooms, gourmet kitches, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances.</p><p>&#8226; General contractor: Deadline Construction, a D&amp;D Realty affiliate.</p><p>&#8226; Architect: David Sheydwasser, Kingston.</p><p>&#8226; Engineer: SmithMiller Engineering, Pittston.</p><p>&#8226; Project manager: Advanced Builders LLC, Pittston.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> Es4QQzQRcLc</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;"> YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es4QQzQRcLc</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> &lt;iframe width=&#8221;560&#8221; height=&#8221;315&#8221; src=&#8221;https://www.youtube.com/embed/Es4QQzQRcLc&#8221; frameborder=&#8221;0&#8221; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> D&amp;D realty announces the construction of downtown apartments in the PNC Bank building.</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> Aimee Dilger</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Apartments, offices planned for PNC bank building in downtown Wilkes-Barre