LUZERNE COUNTY, Pa. — The mile-one autogroup motorworld in Plains Township is a collection of more than ten car dealerships. At a Wilkes-Barre Township Zoning Board hearing,
The group was approved to make its new home at the Wyoming Valley Mall.
"Service, car detailing, car wash, all within the existing building, and then we're going to build 8 dealerships around the perimeter, which would be a sales showroom only," said Joe Heisler, Project Architect.
Project maps drafted by an architectural firm show construction will largely take place in unoccupied storefronts in the mall, with the exception of the men's section of Macy's.
Plans show a space for parking inventory on the outside of the mall, where Grotto's Pizza is currently located.
"It would be up to them to go along and willingly sell their property; that would be up to them; it's not something we can force somebody to do," said Thomas Zedolik, Wilkes-Barre Township Zoning Officer.
The hope is that with these new dealerships, the mall will be reinvigorated in its entirety.
"Back in the 70s and 80s, the mall was the big thing, but now it's the last several years, there's nothing new going on there," said Zedolik.
Some who work in the mall share that same hope.
"Oh a lot of stores moved out, yeah that end was always empty, now it will be full and there'll be more traffic, so more traffic, more business," said Nail Adzemovic, Employee at Dino's Pizza.
"It just brings a lot of business like 'Oh I'm in the mall right now getting this done I can just go to the food court, I can go to cinnabon or I could just come here, look around," said Dimonique Suydan, Keyholder at Banter.
And frequent customers hope their mall will be revived.
"All these stores closing down, like the Men's at Macy's, and none of them are really doing great this time of year, let's get the people in, let's make it big, that would be awesome. Car dealerships, whatever it takes," said Claire Hinkley, Wilkes-Barre.
With the zoning approval, the company has 30 days to decide if it wants to move forward with the construction.