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First Posted: 4/23/2015
WILKES-BARRE — Wilkes University is on a mission.
The product of a 20-member committee, the university’s Gateway to the Future Strategic Plan was launched two years ago to stake out pathways for meeting future challenges.
That proposal took a literal spin Thursday, as university and elected officials broke ground on a $1 million walkway project to connect the campus with the heart of downtown Wilkes-Barre, the latest endeavor in the six-year plan to chisel a traditional residential campus out of the Diamond City’s urban landscape.
Within the last year, the university has pledged more than $30 million in upgrades to the campus, including a $33 million science center and an additional $3 million in renovations to the University Center at 169 S. Main St., the future site of the of the Jay S. Sidhu School of Business and Leadership.
The gateway, a 14-foot-wide concrete path extending from South Main Street across South Franklin Street to the center of the Wilkes campus, was spurred by a $600,000 multi-modal grant from PennDOT, matched by $400,000 in funding from Wilkes.
The gateway will include an arched metal and stone entryway, a decorative clock, bicycle racks, 11 LED light fixtures, seven benches and 16 trees. Two raised pedestrian crosswalks will be built to access the gateway from the street, and will include traffic signals to protect student safety. An outdoor seating area for Gambini’s Cafe at the University Center on Main will also be built.
Construction began earlier this month, nearly a year after the university purchased the former site of Bartikowsky Jewelers at 141 S. Main St. for $1.2 million.
Designed by architecture firm Derck and Edson Associates of Lititz, the project is slated to be completed in August, with major work beginning after the spring semester ends later next month.
Patrick F. Leahy, named in 2012 as the sixth president of the 82-year-old university, said the gateway project will dramatically change the university’s look and feel going forward.
“This continues our dream,” Leahy said.
Leahy, a former executive vice president at the University of Scranton, said he envisions Wilkes as a university in every sense of the word, bringing the buzz and notoriety of a large research institution to the relatively small downtown campus.
Joined inside the University Center Thursday by student body president Taylor Moyer as well as state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, Sen. John Yudichak and Mayor Tom Leighton, Leahy heralded the efforts of the elected officials in getting the project funded.
“This is just the latest in a series of examples of the power of public/private partnerships that continue the revitalization of downtown Wilkes-Barre,” he said.
Moyer, a second-year pharmacy student, said the project will make the campus much more student-friendly. The addition of new light fixtures will increase student safety while new landscaping and outdoor seating areas will provide a scenic accent to the campus.
Through the funding, Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, said the state has invested “wise dollars” into the future of the downtown area.
It was important, Pashinski said, for residents to get behind the city’s steps toward positive progress in light of numerous negative incidents in the last several weeks. The representative said Wilkes had a “visionary plan” to improve the quality of life in the area.
“It’s a gateway for students and their social and intellectual improvements, but it’s also a gateway for Northeastern Pennsylvania, for us to be proud once again,” he said.
Yudichak, D-Plymouth Township, said students will now “have a premier university to come to.”
“It’s a 21st century vision already producing great results,” he said.
Speaking last, Leighton thanked Wilkes officials and echoed Leahy in his praise of local politicians lobbying in Harrisburg for the benefit of the region, adding he is always encouraged anytime Wilkes, King’s College, or any institution makes an investment into the downtown.
“You know it’s going to be done right,” Leighton said.