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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; In what appears to be a rare victory, the city is in line to recover the demolition costs from the owner of the former Academy Market.</p><p>A deal is in the works with David Kapustensky of Kapustensky Realty LLC, Wilkes-Barre city officials said this week.</p><p>&#8220;We got him to agree to a repayment plan,&#8221; city Administrator Ted Wampole said.</p><p>The first payment will be $2,300, added city Attorney Tim Henry.</p><p>&#8220;The down payment will be the same amount of the citations (issued for code violations) and then he&#8217;ll be on a payment plan thereafter,&#8221; Henry said.</p><p>The agreement is in the process of being put to paper. &#8220;The down payment would be due on the execution of the agreement,&#8221; said Henry.</p><p>The attorney and Wampole acknowledged that the city has had little success getting repaid for razing houses and buildings left to deteriorate by the hard-to-find owners. The city regularly files liens, but most often is on the hook for the demolition costs and can&#8217;t collect the fines.</p><p>The city filed a lien in this case too, Henry said. &#8220;The vast majority of these, we don&#8217;t get a penny back,&#8221; he said.</p><p>The property at 121-123 Academy St. was torn down in June at a cost of $22,800 paid for with federal Community Development Block Grant funds. At that point, the city had not been able to locate the owner who, according to state records, had an address of 503 Carey Ave. in Wilkes-Barre, approximately a mile away from the former market.</p><p>Three citations also were pending and summonses were issued for the owner to appear for a civil trial before District Judge Rick Cronauer. Court records indicated the summonses could not be delivered and the trial, continued in June, July and September, was scheduled for Nov. 13.</p><p>On Tuesday, a week before the trial, the city withdrew the citations and Wampole explained that the owner was located.</p><p>&#8220;I give all the credit on this to Tim,&#8221; Wampole said.</p><p>Henry said he was able to get in contact with the owner &#8212; who had the same name as the realty company &#8212; and get him to agree to pay back the costs.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_Academy-Market-demolition.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">A deal is in the works with the owner of the former Academy Market to recover the nearly $23,000 it cost Wilkes-Barre to demolish the eyesore in June. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/web1_Academy-Market-demolition.jpg</photo0><caption0>A deal is in the works with the owner of the former Academy Market to recover the nearly $23,000 it cost Wilkes-Barre to demolish the eyesore in June. </caption0><photoCredit0>Courtesy of City of Wilkes-Barre </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Deal in works for Wilkes-Barre to recover Academy Market demo costs