Hotel Sterling annex may house arts, cultural center
5/20/2005
Published in The Citizen’s Voice May 20, 2005
By Denise Allabaugh, Staff Writer
The former Hotel Sterling annex in downtown Wilkes-Barre could be transposed into an arts and cultural center. Representatives from the Minneapolis-based non-profit group Artspace toured four sites downtown for the proposed center: the Hotel Sterling annex, the Wachovia building on West Market Street, the Irem Temple on North Franklin Street and the Studio Cafe on Public Square.
A feasible study revealed the Hotel Sterling annex is the best site, said Andrew Commers, Artspace associate project manager.
“The Sterling annex is probably the site that fit best with the ideas we heard,” Commers said. “There are definitely strong indicators that there is really a strong interest in gallery space, performance space and office space for arts organizations.”
Shelley Pearce, chair of the Cultural Council of Luzerne County, was instrumental in bringing Artspace officials to Wilkes-Barre for a recent community forum at Wilkes University to discuss the project. An arts and cultural center would be an important key to revitalize the downtown, Pearce said. Artspace would be the consultant for the project.
“We’ve been saying for years that an arts center is something that the downtown desperately needs,” Pearce said. “It is only fitting that we should have a center in Luzerne County because we have an incredibly rich and diverse arts and cultural heritage.”
Artspace purchases and renovates blighted buildings in urban areas and leases them to artists at below-market rates. It owns 18 properties from California to Connecticut and has a portfolio worth more than $175 million and a dozen more projects in development, Commers said.
The proposed center would provide a venue for smaller scale dance, theater and musical performances. It would accommodate at least 50 people in a café-style setting to as many as 300 with theater-style seating, she said. The center also would include gallery space for the exhibition of large-scale visual arts and intimate space for student and amateur artwork.
“People can see an amateur arts exhibition in one gallery and a jazz quartet under the same roof. They may come to see a choral presentation and then there will be exhibition space with professional and amateur art,” Pearce said. “We would like to have restaurant and cafe space. That would produce revenue and it would be a gathering place for people.”
While the F.M. Kirby Center and the Wachovia Arena have successfully hosted large regional and national events, Pearce said an arts and cultural center would provide a home for local artists and arts organizations.
It will compliment downtown revitalization projects, including the Hotel Sterling renovation, the construction of a theater project and the state Department of Labor and Industry building on South Washington Street, she said.
The proposed center attracted support from civic and educational leaders and organizations including the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Citizens for the Arts in Pennsylvania, the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor and area colleges and universities. “This support comes from a strong collective sense that an arts and cultural center would contribute enormously to the community’s quality of life, serve as a powerful magnet for attracting people downtown and, in so doing, serve as a significant economic development force,” Pearce said.
When the Cultural Council was searching for expertise in arts development, Pearce said it became clear that Artspace “was the one firm that touched every community with a thriving arts scene.” Bob Curry, past chair of the Cultural Council and general manager of Barnes and Noble in Wilkes-Barre Township, agreed the project will help revitalize downtown Wilkes-Barre.
“Like many cities of our size, we are searching for a catalyst to springboard economic development,” Curry said. “We consider Artspace to be the very highest quality, the most knowledgeable and frankly, the most experienced of any of the groups.”
The Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business and Industry owns the Hotel Sterling annex.
Steve Barrouk, chamber president, said an arts and cultural center would attract more business and tourists to downtown. “When you bring a group of creative, talented people together, you create new business opportunity,” Barrouk said.
CityVest, a Wilkes-Barre-based non-profit community development organization, is developing the Hotel Sterling. When complete, there will be retail and office space on the lower floors and residential space on the upper floors of the decaying seven-story building, said CityVest executive director Alex Rogers.
“We think the redevelopment of the Sterling annex would be tremendously helpful to the neighboring development projects, including the Hotel Sterling renovation and the riverfront parks,” Rogers said. “What’s exciting is there are several development projects going on at once. There is a strong momentum.”
©The Citizens Voice 2005
