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WILKES-BARRE &mdash; Five years after agreeing to build a park next to its Heritage Point Apartments, the complex owner gave the city $10,000 to finish the job.
				HDC MidAtlantic CEO and President Dana Hanchin Wednesday presented a check to Mayor George Brown for the new $73,350 Rolling Mill Hill Park expected to be completed by the spring of 2021.
				The Oct. 14, 2015 agreement settling appeals filed by neighbors of the complex filed against the Wilkes-Barre Zoning Hearing Board that approved the apartment complex called for HDC MidAltantic to not only build the park on a corner lot at McCarragher and Grove streets, but also transfer the property to the city. The settlement predated Hanchin and Brown taking their leadership roles.
				&ldquo;I came on board as CEO and President in 2018 and that was long after Heritage Point Apartments was completed and part of that commitment to coming into the city was to donate land and also resources to build a playground,&rdquo; Hanchin said during a brief presentation at City Hall.
				Brown took office in January.
				&ldquo;This project is close to my heart because I was on city council when this was first proposed,&rdquo; Brown said. &ldquo;At that time we had a vacant lot that really was not doing anything for the neighborhood. It was bringing down property values now we have a beautiful complex in there.&rdquo;
				Brown and Hanchin preferred to look to the future rather than revisit the past, saying they were excited to see the project through.
				&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be a first-class park and we&rsquo;re really going to show it off for Rolling Mill Hill,&rdquo; Brown said.
				The 2015 agreement set deadlines that were not met by Lancaster-based HDC MidAtlantic. Playground improvements including a swing set, monkey bars and other equipment were to be made to the park within six months from the date the city issued a certificate of occupancy for Heritage Point Apartments. Within eight months of the issuance of the certificate, the park was to be dedicated to the city and it would have the responsibility to maintain the property. If the eight-month deadline was missed, the responsibility fell on HDC MidAtlantic.
				The final occupancy permit was issued in August 2017 for the more than $14 million, 56-unit affordable housing complex built on the former site of the Wyoming Valley Hospital on Dana Street.
				The city allocated $63,530, the majority of the park&rsquo;s cost, from its Community Development Block Grant program funding. It awarded the construction to Columbia Excavating LLC of Bloomsburg that submitted the lowest responsible bid of $51,390. HDC MidAtlantic&rsquo;s contribution will go toward the $22,140 for playground equipment to be bought through the state COSTARS cooperative purchasing program.
				HDC MidAtlantic had its funding in place and increased it by $1,000, said Ian Rawhauser, the company&rsquo;s assistant director of real estate development. The contribution included a $3,000 donation from the Wyoming Valley Hospital Foundation.
				Rawhauser, who also served as project manager for Heritage Point Apartments, said he has been working with Joyce Morrash Zaykowski, the director of the city&rsquo;s Office of Economic & Community Development on the park and commended the city for having the political will to see it through.
				&ldquo;But it was really just figuring out the details of what equipment the city liked, how in depth of a land development process it was going to be. So working primarily with Joyce through all that, it just took some time,&rdquo; Rawhauser said.

Wilkes-Barre’s newest public park coming to Rolling Mill Hill