WILKES-BARRE — Members of the Malacari family plan to bring more student housing to Downtown Wilkes-Barre.
Vito Malacari received zoning approval last week to remodel a commercial building at 87 N. Main St. that has been totally vacant for well over a year into 10 apartment units targeted to college students.
The property, located at the intersection with East Union Street, formerly housed the Union and Main hair salon, which relocated to Kingston in October 2019; Liberty Cleaners, which closed its doors in May 2022; and the Penn Wilco Federal Credit Union, which merged with U.F.C.W Community FCU in Wyoming to form Earning Tree FCU in 2023.
The building, owned by Anastasia and Theo Papadopolos Jr., is in the King’s College neighborhood.
Frank Malacari, Vito’s son, told the board the building owner had been unsuccessful in attracting new tenants since the previous ones left.
Realtor Shannon Trivett testified that the property had been on the market for close to three years. She has been the realtor for about a year and another realtor had been working to find tenants for about a year and a half before her.
“The firm that I work at is a dedicated commercial real estate firm, so, we’re marketing it regionally and nationally to commercial buyers and brokers,” Trivett said. “We were doing our due diligence to appeal to the broader market to bring people into our area that would invest in it, and it’s just so happened that we found local people who want to do that.”
Frank Malacari said zoning law required 20 parking spaces for the 10 units, and 22 spaces of off-street parking are planned.
“The building will be completely redone, up to code, with sprinkler systems and fire alarm systems,” Malacari said. “We have very good success with student housing in the Wilkes Barre area. We have a lot of units down by King’s, and we have multiple units down by Wilkes as well, and we have a good reputation for giving them a good product.”
Malacari said some of the units would have two bedrooms, and others would have three. He said the building is under contract for sale pending zoning approval.
The board voted 4-0 to approve the request for a variance to convert the building, which as 9,060 square feet of commercial space, into a 10-unit residential apartment building.
At the same hearing, the board also approved Malacari’s requests for special exceptions to change the nonconforming use of a single-family home at 63 E. Jackson St. into a two-unit residential building, to park three vehicles on adjacent property and the joint use of parking for a five-unit apartment building at 53-55 E. Jackson St, as well as variances to waive a requirement for one parking space and one handicap-parking space.
Frank Malacari said there are 13 parking spots available for the units in a lot, and the students are not using more than 75% of the spaces.
“We want to rent it to college kids, and the majority of the kids actually don’t have vehicles down here. We haven’t had any parking issues,” he said.
Vito and Cynthia Malacari own at least two rental properties near King’s College and at least two others near Wilkes University, as well as several other rentals in various parts of the city, according to Luzerne County assessment records.
In other business, the zoning hearing board approved a request from Daryl Lewis for a special exception to have a community garden on a vacant lot at 445 S. River St. The garden was actually established there in 2021
“Our organization is taking steps to grow our offerings to the community,” Lewis explained in an email. “In order to do so we are solidifying our relationship with Wilkes-Barre and operating within the city’s permitting process to ensure that our growth is compliant with the standards and practices of the city. We have met with the Mayor and his team, they have been helpful in advising us on how to proceed.”
The board also approved requests from:
- Penn One LLC for a special exception to change a nonconforming use of a building at 322 N. Pennsylvania Ave. from a jewelry store/pawn shop to a grocery store that will operate 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week.
- Jadira Salas for a special exception to change a nonconforming use of a building at 530 N. Main St. from a restaurant to a delicatessen and grocery store that will operate 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. seven days a week.
The board denied requests from:
- Makvala Tsikarishvili for a variance to waive a side-yard setback from the required 5 feet to 0 feet to construct a set of 5-foot by 15-foot steps from the front porch, with a landing, for a property at 11 Bruce Lane.
- Sandra Rea for a special exception to change a nonconforming use of a building containing two apartments and 757 square feet of vacant commercial space to a building containing two apartments, a barbershop and a nail salon at 374 New Market St., and a variance to waive seven parking spaces for the proposed use.
