PITTSTON -- Brick by brick, crews put together the walls of a new building just off Main Street at the Pittston Tomato Festival grounds.
When it's finished, it'll be used as a snack bar and a storage facility. It will even have a stage.
The city paid about $130,000 for materials, but the city did not pay a dime in construction costs.
"We're actually doing some creative trading. No chickens, but we're actually trading a downtown lot," said Mike Lombardo of the Pittston Redevelopment Authority.
Lombardo heard someone was looking for a place to build a brew pub in Pittston. That someone is Royce Vaughn, who also has a background in construction. So city leaders thought it would be fair if Vaughn and his dad's company worked on the building in exchange for giving Vaughn a building that had sat empty for more than two decades.
"It's really a great deal with Pittston because they get to benefit with wonderful masonry work and they get to benefit from our wonderful beer," Vaughn said, adding he plans on opening the bar in this building right on North Main Street in downtown Pittston.
"We're going to serve American ales, smooth and easy drinking ales," he said.
Plus, when the brewpub is up and running, the property will go back on Pittston's tax rolls.
The brew pub is expected to be called the Black Ale Brewing Company.
City leaders hope to find a corporate sponsor for the tomato festival building.
