HAZLETON, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — Celebrating history while looking to the future: That's the goal of a major project underway at a landmark building in Luzerne County, a building that at one point had been given up for dead.
"It is beautiful. When I first walked in here I said 'Wow! This is amazing.' And I would hope that everybody would feel the same way. You know? It is a beautiful building," said Property Manager for the former Altamont Hotel Project Diane Lizzio.
Lizzio says the developer, Post Road Management, is determined to return the building to its past glory.
The 10-story building located at Church and Broad Streets was built in 1930. It was a hotel for nearly 40 years.
It also served as a nursing home, an event venue, and at one point, its upper floors were used as a minimum security prison which created a big-time controversy in the city.
For more than a decade, the building was vacant with no signs of life.
That changed when Post Road Management took over some seven years ago and the transformation was underway.
"We do have 68 apartments we have renovated. We just opened up February 1. We're doing very well. Out front, we have five storefronts. We have a couple of contracts on them already," Lizzio explained.
Lizzio says the centerpiece of the building: The ballroom.
"This is the ballroom right now, and it's the original light fixtures. It looks fabulous," Lizzio continued.
Hazleton Mayor Jeff Cusat says the project will provide a financial boost to the city.
"It's going to be 68 apartments. That means we should have 68 more people living in the city, 68 more earned income tax coming in the LST tax base, you know. People will be spending money," said Mayor Cusat.
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Joe Scarcella has operated the tuxedo shop Metallos Formal Wear a block away from the Altamont Building for some 50 years.
He has seen this building at its very worse and now is hopeful for the future.
"Moving forward Andy it's good for the downtown. I understand that the developers of the Altamont also putting down retail in the bottom floors. It only helps anyone who is in the downtown working and running businesses," Scarcella said.
