Meeting pending between new Sherman Hills owner, Wilkes-Barre officials following gunfire

WILKES-BARRE — A day after gunfire scattered more than 40 spent shell casings across a section of the Sherman Hills apartment complex Mayor George Brown said a meeting is in the works with the new owner.

The property located off Coal Street has had a history as a trouble spot with reports of shootings and arrests. But there were no arrests and no reported injuries from the gunfire Wednesday night at the intersection of North Empire Court and Parkview Circle.

Brown said Thursday the latest report of gunfire as well as a fire Tuesday in one of the apartment buildings will be among the topics to be discussed.

Brown said the city reached out to Indelible Housing Inc. which purchased the low-income, federally subsidized housing complex earlier this year for $27 million from Sherman Hills Holdings LLC., an affiliate of the New Jersey-based real estate investment company Treetop Development.

“We spoke to the person in charge,” Brown said. “He is very interested with meeting with the mayor and his administration.”

When contacted by a reporter, Dick Knapp, director and president of the Washington, D.C.-based non-profit Indelible, said he would have the property manager return a call. But the call was not returned.

Brown said he invited City Councilman Bill Barrett, whose District D includes Sherman Hills, was invited to attend the meeting that could take place as early as next week.

Last year Indelible announced its intent to acquire the 344-unit Sherman Hills and add it to its list of Section 8 project based apartment complexes. Indelible said it will invest between $20 million and $30 million to rehab the apartments. It also said it will make payments in lieu of taxes, equal to what the previous for-profit owner paid, to the city, Luzerne County and the Wilkes-Barre Area School District.

The gunfire came up during the City Council work session Thursday night. Council has been meeting virtually, with no one from the public permitted into the meetings on the fourth floor of City Hall since the beginning of the year when the COVID-19 case count surged due to the omicron variant.

There was no agenda for the work session or the public meeting that followed because the resolution pertaining to the temporary suspension of the ordinance on the public consumption of alcoholic beverages for the April 24 Downtown Showdown was pulled to allow the sponsor of the event on Public Square, the Diamond City Partnership, to work out additional details with the city.

Councilman Tony Brooks suggested a meeting with the owner and management of Sherman Hills and the revival of the task force, formed in 2013, and tenant association when violence plagued the complex.

Council Chairwoman Beth Gilbert McBride added gun violence in the city is a socio-economic issue as much as it is a safety issue.

“Poverty, drug and alcohol abuse, and parental neglect all contribute to crime and if we focus solely on the crime itself, I think we are ignoring the larger issues,” McBride said.

Responding to McBride’s question about whether there is a strategic economic and safety plan in place, City Administrator Charlie McCormick said he would ask Brown and Police Chief Joseph Coffay to address Council next month.

“I know there is a systematic approach. We’ve beefed up two of their units, police units for special investigation. There’s also a special gun unit that they have,” McCormick said.

The police also are “very closely aligned” with the FBI and the Pennsylvania State Police special crime unit, McCormick said.