Bresnahan invests in Pittston

PITTSTON — The latest downtown Pittston landlord, Robert Bresnahan Jr., is young, enthusiastic, energized, and very much wants to be a part of the renaissance of the city. His mission statement for the success of his downtown properties: live, work, play and stay.

Bresnahan, the grandson of Walter and Rhonda Kuharchik of Kuharchik Construction, started working for his grandparents when he was 19 years old, learning the ropes and preparing himself educationally for his future.

Now 31 years old, the Wyoming Seminary and University of Scranton graduate is the president and CEO of the construction company.

Taking all the knowledge he’s gained over the last 12 years, he has branched out, creating RPB Ventures, a company to develop, rehab, build and market properties.

Knowing he needed to find a property to develop on Main Street, Pittston was key for Bresnahan. A family friend owned an outdated building that was ready for the wrecking ball until he decided to put in an offer to buy the building and resurrect the structure.

After negotiations and many hurdles, Bresnahan acquired the building at 14 S. Main St., also known as the Black Building, next to Marc’s Tattoo, in 2019.

“When we made the acquisition, that’s when we hit the ground running with architects and figuring out the structural integrity of the building and getting a game plan of what we were going to do with it,” Bresnahan said. “This was a very interesting transaction.”

For Bresnahan, it was a complete and total gut-job of the building — he started over from scratch, taking it down to the studs. Parts of the building interfered with the back alley and had to be removed, essentially making room for a back parking lot.

The decision was to add a third floor where the second and third floors would include four residential, two bedroom apartments and the ground floor for retail space.

Bresnahan said he’s not quite sure what type of business he will rent to on the first floor, but it could range from a restaurant, to a coffee shop, to a retail store.

“I think a restaurant would be an excellent fit for that space,” Bresnahan admitted. “I would like something unique because Pittston is unique and I’d love to find someone that wants to be different. The space is over 1750 square feet, so it’s a large space. I could see a restaurant, coffee shop, bakery, something with a liquor license — something that would go with the vibe of downtown.”

Construction continues on all three floors, but he said the pandemic has set him back both with time, labor issues, and money. Materials have been hard to acquire and prices skyrocketed during the pandemic.

He’s looking to button up the 14 South Main Street project sometime this late spring.

“When I’m about 45 days out of finishing the project, I’ll set a lease price, and go from there,” Bresnahan stated. “Regarding the first floor space, we will work with whoever that business will be in what they need, how we can help and how they can be successful.”

Belief in Pittston

Bresnahan would love to see Pittston transition back to its former glory just as the City of Pittston Mayor Michael Lombardo wishes.

Lombardo has been on a continuing mission of his own as he enters his fourth term as mayor. He and his administration have transformed downtown by creating new streetscaping, including lighting, sidewalks and curbs, as well as rehabilitating buildings and old stores.

“I have great confidence in Rob,” Mayor Lombardo said. “I think he’s proven to be a great up-and-coming developer and I believe he will be doing some really good things downtown. The units he’s down at the black building (12 S. Main St.) are really nice and higher end in line with what we are trying to do. It takes a lot of guts to put a third floor on a two-story building. Rob is another critical shareholder for downtown.”

Bresnahan said he’s all in when it comes to bringing people back to the downtown area.

“My mom remembers going to the penny store and getting dropped off at St. John the Baptist and walking around Pittston with her girlfriends,” Bresnahan said. “There were thousands of people working downtown and now we have transitioned and full credit to the Mayor, Mary Kroptavich (Pittston’s Main Street manager), the Redevelopment Authority for what they are doing.”

The Landmark acquisition

Bresnahan said as soon as he knew the four-story Landmark Bank Building was up for sale, he wanted no matter what it took to successfully make the purchase.

The building itself, which Bresnahan purchased for $1.5 million, has been a cornerstone of downtown Pittston since it was erected in the 1860s when it was known as The Miner’s Savings Bank.

The structure, which includes an annex that was added years later as well as the parking lot with an ATM across Broad Street, is sound, and Bresnahan has many ideas on what he’d like to do with the building.

Fidelity Bank, the previous owner, will still have presences in the building for at least one more year with an option for a second year.

Floors two through four have been and are being emptied before a definitive plan is in place to begin tearing down walls for a new layout.

“Listen, I love having Fidelity there,” Bresnahan admitted. “That’s 25 people that are working in the downtown and that’s 25 people that will look for coffee for themselves or a large meeting.”

He made a decision to convert the Fidelity Bank ATM kiosk across the street in the parking lot to a coffee-to-go hut.

“Let’s start there, let’s provide that (coffee),” Bresnahan said. “It’s a great location, it’s got off street parking, it’s close to the bus stop and it provides a solution for the need.”

For the time being, Bresnahan will more than likely convert the upper floors of Landmark for commercial space.

“We’ll move some of our (RPB Ventures) commercial operations like our e-commerce department, our marketing department, and our ancillary asset management units totaling 10 to 15 people over into the third floor of our operations. The second floor and fourth floor, depending on whom we can attract can be placed in our building.”

Long-term vision

The ultimate dream of Bresnahan’s for the Landmark building is making it into a hotel, citing the lack of hotels near Pittston.

“The Banks (banquet facility in Pittston) is an incredible facility for weddings, but unfortunately everyone leaves the city to get a hotel outside of the area for a wedding,” Bresnahan said. “We need to have the basic need for the downtown in order to have people stay here for events like a wedding or a St. Patrick’s Day parade or the Tomato Festival. If we build it, they will come, but we all need to be in the position to support the ongoing movement.”

Bresnahan has secured an architect firm, drawing up several proposals on the Landmark building that would include a proposed restaurant, hotel lobby, and retail space as well as boutique hotel rooms and even residential space on the top two floors.

Future occupants

Bresnahan said he would accept proposals for commercial space for occupation of the Landmark Bank Building. You can email him at robbres@me.com or submit any questions to the Landmark’s website at https://thelandmarkpittston.com/home.

“We have started the groundwork and will be ready to grow with the city,” concluded Bresnahan.