Gary Lambert Jr. of King’s College and Michele Flannery of Wilkes University stand inside the Barnes & Noble College Bookstore. The store opened in 2006 as a joint venture by the two schools and has been part of the revitalization of downtown Wilkes-Barre.

That was the case in Wilkes-Barre five years ago when the colleges and the city were at a crossroad.

Wilkes-Barre was struggling with empty storefronts and a downtown that rolled up its sidewalks at 6. Public Square was lacking the public, and crime was a major concern. The cash-strapped city was hemorrhaging jobs, and residents and college students had to leave the city to see a movie at a full-time theater, find a bookstore or enjoy a better variety of meals.

“It was really suffering,” said the Rev. Thomas O’Hara, president of King’s College.

When prospective students and their families would visit the King’s campus, O’Hara said, staff would do everything it could to keep them on campus, and not have them venturing out into the city’s downtown.

“We were afraid we’d lose them in terms of their interest in coming to Wilkes-Barre,” he said.

Michele Flannery was 16 and a student at Bishop Hoban High School in 2004. The Wilkes-Barre native and her family had moved to Forty Fort a year earlier. She had not wanted to attend either of the city’s two colleges – Wilkes University or King’s College.

Flannery recalled her hometown as a place in disrepair. It was a place where you felt unsafe walking the streets, day or night.

Students stayed on their respective campuses during the week and often ventured out by car when they needed to get around. The Cinemark movie theater in Moosic was a popular destination, as were eateries and bars just outside of the city.

The colleges earned the moniker “suitcase schools” because of the tendency of many students to pack their bags and head home on weekends, citing a lack of things to do in the area.

A new mayor, Thomas M. Leighton, had taken the reins of the city in 2004 and his openness and willingness to cooperatively work with two of the city’s best assets, its colleges, started the ball rolling.

A group of college students, the presidents of five Luzerne County colleges, Leighton and the Diamond City Partnership got together to discuss the relationships between colleges and the city. They detailed what was and what wasn’t working what was lacking and what should be done over time to create a better atmosphere for both city residents and college students.

A group of college students from Wilkes, King’s, Misericordia University, Penn State University Wilkes-Barre and Luzerne County Community College were surveyed and a focus group sought to learn what college students thought of the place they called home for eight months of the year. The results showed a multitude of concerns among students.

Among the key findings from the students at the time:

• Most opinions about downtown Wilkes-Barre were negative with adjectives like “rundown” and “unsafe” being used and inconvenient parking and too many vacant storefronts mentioned.

• Students from all five schools said they were optimistic about a better future for the city and many expressed an interest in being a part in its revitalization.

• Not enough establishments in the city are open late and businesses do not cater to students.

The focus group also made some suggestions for ways to improve the city and its ability to make students happy. Among them:

• More street lighting and more of a police presence after dark.

• Establish a free or reduced fare plan for students to take public transportation.

• Establishments should extend evening hours and offer discounts for college students.

• Hold more outdoor evening festivals on Public Square for college students.

O’Hara said the position paper “was really driven by our students (from all area colleges) who wanted to see the city turn around.”

Wilkes University President Tim Gilmour said the discussions held five years ago have borne fruit.

“It’s been a gradual build, but I think we’ve seen some enormous strides,” Gilmour said. The 2006 openings of the Barnes & Noble College Bookstore on Public Square and the R/C Wilkes-Barre Movies 14 theater on East Northampton Street really jump-started the turnaround.

Restaurants, bars, gift shops and more came downtown and students were finding reasons to go out at night or on the weekend.

“Freshman year, it was a lot of students afraid to step outside of their dorms. Now people are asking if you’re going to see a movie or get a drink or go to a restaurant. It’s been a real change,” said Flannery, 21.

Bridget Giunta, who now works with the Wilkes alumni relations office, was a student involved in the initiative at the time. She graduated from Wilkes in 2005 and took a job working for Leighton before heading back to her alma mater this month.

“It’s a stark difference between now and then,” Giunta said. She said credit should be spread out between multiple parties. In addition to the schools and the city, she said developers and business owners also helped the transformation.

The first step toward real change, Giunta said, was “we had to get college students to come to downtown Wilkes-Barre.” The theater and bookstore helped and efforts such as Party on the Square, which launched in September 2004, showed students what the city had to offer if they were willing to come downtown.

“There’s so much to do now,” said Flannery. “And it’s so close.”

Gary Lambert Jr., who graduated from Hoban with Flannery, said the difference is night and day.

Now the student government association president at King’s, Lambert, 22, of Wyoming, said those involved at the time of the study realized “Wilkes-Barre was going down the tubes and it needed something to be done.”

He said rather than sitting back and complaining and letting the situation deepen, they took action.

“They took a risk and they made out on it,” Lambert said.

The wheels were set in motion to create the downtown Wilkes-Barre that exists today.

O’Hara called the change “transformational.”

He said in a short amount of time, King’s has gone from trying to deter visiting families or prospective students from leaving campus to now trying to push them downtown to take in all the offerings.

And the decision five years ago to get together to discuss the city’s potential was a driving force.