![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CVC-L-DOWNTOWNWBOUTLOOK-03XX-3.jpg\")
A look down West Market Street in Wilkes-Barre. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n
They make up part of a diverse downtown residential base that includes \u201ceveryone from college students to folks living in elderly high rises to some of the most high-income households in the city,\u201d said Larry Newman, executive director of Wilkes-Barre\u2019s nonprofit downtown management organization, Diamond City Partnership, and one of the many stakeholders driving the downtown\u2019s progress.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s progress in the continued pursuit of balance, he said, describing a burgeoning downtown with sufficient housing for those who choose to live there and the retail, entertainment and amenities that attract and support a residential population and visitors alike.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe median age \u2026 of a downtown Wilkes-Barre resident is 23, which of course is driven by the colleges, but what we are excited about is it attracts all kinds of people,\u201d Newman said. \u201cAnd so the goal is as we grow the downtown residential population, you grow the ability of retailers who are really focused on serving those residents, because at the end of the day, particularly today, retail follows rooftops.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Lived experience\u2019<\/p>\n
During my recent visit, the Friday evening crowd reflected the diversity Newman described.<\/p>\n
The early dinner clientele at Toscana included a mix of couples and small groups studying a menu that included the aforementioned octopus, a veal stroganoff main course and other specials. A trio of older women dined at one table; three college-aged women chatted at another. Cars filled the metered parking spaces outside on Public Square, suggesting a stream of prospective downtown patrons from other neighborhoods and towns.<\/p>\n
Diamond City Vault was less busy, likely due to construction that closed a stretch of West Market Street, but a young family finishing their meal seized the opportunity for photos in front of the massive bank vault that serves as the restaurant\u2019s most defining feature and a vestige of the building\u2019s past. As the night progressed, the crowd at Franklin\u2019s remained large as pedestrian traffic on and around the square dissipated.<\/p>\n
On nights featuring concerts and events at the iconic F.M. Kirby Center on Public Square \u2014 an anchor institution which drew nearly 80,000 people downtown in 2024 and generated more than $14 million<\/a> in local economic impact \u2014 nearby restaurants and bars often overflow with patrons.<\/p>\n Even my less-hectic experience was of stark contrast to what one might have encountered during a similar trip 25 years ago, when \u201cthere was nothing downtown,\u201d Wilkes-Barre\u2019s former three-term Mayor Tom Leighton said in a recent phone interview.<\/p>\n A downtown businessman and former city councilman, Leighton, who led the city as mayor from 2004 to 2016, said naysayers sometimes derisively dubbed him \u201cDowntown Tommy\u201d because of his focus on the downtown.<\/p>\n \u201cWe really had a big job ahead of us and we really put a lot of time and effort into what would be the best for downtown Wilkes-Barre,\u201d he recalled, pointing to the 2005 removal of the downtown canopy system erected in the post-Agnes-flood era as an example. \u201cTaking the canopy down really opened the downtown. It took the buses off Public Square. \u2026 It opened up the storefronts. And once people saw that, it really, really changed the scope of downtown Wilkes-Barre. It made it actually look cleaner.\u201d<\/p>\n Leighton, who became well-known for his \u201cI believe\u201d slogan, also touted downtown improvements and developments that occurred during his tenure, including the addition of numerous restaurants and businesses he said the area sorely lacked.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd we not only focused on the downtown, but we focused on what the people were asking for,\u201d he said. \u201cThey wanted something to do, and we gave (them) that.\u201d<\/p>\n Newman, meanwhile, reflected on the incremental progress of the early-to-mid 2000s \u2014 progress that was foundational to the downtown\u2019s broader transformation driven by cooperation between business-and-commerce-focused nonprofits, the colleges, government and private-sector developers.<\/p>\n It came after former city leaders and stakeholders rebuilt the downtown following the 1972 Agnes flood \u201cusing the best practices of 1970s \u2026 and 1980s urbanism, which probably was not the greatest idea,\u201d he quipped. \u201cBut that\u2019s where we were, and so we rebuilt.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat reconstruction as a result of urban renewal post-flood gave downtown 10 more years of life; it was basically like a pacemaker, but it didn\u2019t cure the patient, it just delayed the inevitable, so when \u2026 downtown Wilkes-Barre crashed and burned it just crashed and burned 10 years later than everyone else,\u201d Newman continued. \u201cDowntown was really in crisis by the late \u201990s, so in 2001 we held a series of public meetings to talk about what to do, and that\u2019s really the origin of Diamond City Partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the key messages that emerged from that \u201cvisioning process\u201d was a need to focus on the basics: \u201ccleanliness, beautification, safety, livability,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd so from the get-go we built a program to focus on those incremental improvements in people\u2019s lived experience of downtown, and those incremental improvements over time helped to set the table for the large-scale investments that have followed,\u201d Newman said.<\/p>\n Residential trend<\/p>\n Many of the large-scale investments involved housing and contributed to the growth of downtown Wilkes-Barre as a place to live, a trend that\u2019s continued in the post-pandemic era.<\/p>\n In his prior role with the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry, Newman was involved in the development of 21 downtown condominiums in the complex constructed at South Main and Northampton streets that includes the R\/C Wilkes-Barre Movies 14 theater. The residential component completed in 2010 was included in the broader revitalization project to test if there was demand for high-end downtown living, and there was, he told the Citizens\u2019 Voice in 2015<\/a>.<\/p>\n Addressing the continuing residential trend earlier this month, Newman, citing U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey Estimates, said roughly 4,600 residents live within a downtown area bounded by North Street to the north; the railroad tracks between Pennsylvania Avenue and Wilkes-Barre Boulevard to the east; the Susquehanna River to the west; and Ross Street or Academy Street, depending on the block, to the south. That number, which includes King\u2019s College and Wilkes University students living on campus, is 13% higher than pre-pandemic, he said.<\/p>\n The downtown residential inventory has also grown by more than 400 units not associated with the colleges since 2010, Newman said, identifying D&D Realty Group as downtown Wilkes-Barre\u2019s largest residential developer. The firm\u2019s downtown portfolio now includes the four-building Hampton Park complex, with 40 total apartments and seven commercial units; 116 South, with 34 apartments and a 12,000-square-foot early learning center; Alleghany Lofts, with 20 apartments; and Riverview West in the former PNC Bank building overlooking the Susquehanna River, which includes 43 apartments and 6,000 square feet of office space, D&D co-founder and partner Nicholas Dye said.<\/p>\n They\u2019re the type of developments numerous local stakeholders described as consistent with a livable, mixed-use vision for the downtown.<\/p>\n During my late-February visit I had the opportunity to play several simulated holes of California\u2019s famed Riviera Country Club after booking an hour of time at Virtual Fairways, a golf simulator business located at D&D\u2019s Hampton Park property at the corner of East Northampton and South Washington streets. Having not swung a club since late October, it was a humbling experience, but one likely to appeal to visiting or local golf aficionados who\u2019d otherwise have to leave the downtown to play.<\/p>\n The pair playing in the adjacent bay at Virtual Fairways assured me I\u2019d love my meal at Cafe Toscana, which I did, and that I might see them later at Franklin\u2019s on Public Square, which I didn\u2019t, perhaps because it was crowded.<\/p>\n But my experience at and on the way to all three businesses proved the immediate downtown to be walkable, even when shouldering a full golf bag I wisely left at the hotel before dinner and drinks.<\/p>\n \u201cThe key is it\u2019s become a walking downtown,\u201d Leighton said in our phone interview. \u201cYou can walk to work, you can walk to shop, you can walk to eat, you can just walk for exercise on the riverfront, so there\u2019s so many opportunities in downtown now that weren\u2019t there 25 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n Dye agreed, identifying the downtown\u2019s ability to accommodate the \u201cwalk-to-anything lifestyle\u201d as one of its most attractive features.<\/p>\n It\u2019s certainly attractive to D&D\u2019s downtown tenants, largely a mix of young professionals and older residents who embraced the opportunity to downsize to a maintenance-free apartment in a walkable neighborhood, Dye said.<\/p>\n Missing pieces<\/p>\n Walkable as it is, Wilkes-Barre\u2019s downtown is currently missing some amenities likely to benefit its growing residential base and visitors alike, especially those without a car.<\/p>\n It lacks, for example, robust grocery options, though Bravo Supermarket is located just outside the downtown\u2019s boundaries and the Wilkes-Barre City Farmers Market on Public Square helps fill the gap on Thursdays from mid-June to mid-November. The Dollar Tree on South Main Street and Anthracite, Not Just a Newsstand on East Market Street, both just off Public Square, also offer some options, but neither stay open as late as many of the region\u2019s larger supermarkets and grocery chains.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CVC-L-DOWNTOWNWBOUTLOOK-03XX-6.jpg\")
The F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts in Wilkes-Barre. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n
![\"Hysni](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CVC-L-HOTEL-0516-7.jpg\")
Hysni \u2018Sam\u2019 Syla plans to convert this building at 46 Public Square into a hotel rather than build one from the ground up on the former Hotel Sterling site as he announced in 2018. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n![\"Sam](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CVC-L-HOTEL-0516-4.jpg\")
Sam Syla, left, and George Albert describe their plans during the unveiling of a new hotel on 46 Public Square on Thursday, May 15, 2025. (JASON ARDAN \/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)<\/p>\n