KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette The Pajama Factory in Williamsport on Thursday.
Over the years, the Pajama Factory has become a destination for artist lofts, exhibits, shows, a retail coffee shop and more recently residential apartments.
But as the owner Mark Winkelman tries to lease space in the building at 1307 Park Ave., he said negotiations with the city have stalled.
Winkelman said he completed 18 new studio units on the fourth floor all of which are pre-leased and ready for occupancy since Dec. 1, 2020.
“Negotiations have stalled as the city halted all construction until the parking lot is paved as per zoning ordinance,” he said. “We had hoped to work out an accommodation with the city.”
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The Pajama Factory in Williamsport. KAREN VIBERT-KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
A $2 million state grant for the Pajama Factory, an artists’ studio at 1347 Park Ave., is giving its owner, who wants to leverage the money starting in coming months, a sense of optimism.
“That grant will allow us to get bigger and better,” said Mark Winkelman, Pajama Factory owner and founder.
Located in a rejuvenated, historic factory complex at 1307 Park Ave., the site was a recipient of a state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant from Gov. Tom Wolf’s Office of Budget.
The factory consists of an arts community who have come together to build off of each other’s strengths and dreams in order to create something bigger than themselves, Winkelman said.
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MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette
Isabela Biddle, 13, of Hughesville, left, and Leslie Smith of Williamsport used what materials they could find and made masks early in the COVID pandemic when masks were unavailable. Isabela worked from her home and Leslie worked from her studio at the Pajama Factory in Williamsport.
With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic came lingering anxieties and fears about friends, family members and even the possibility of contracting the virus themselves.
Isabela “Izzie” Biddle, Hughesville student, and Leslie Smith, Pajama Factory sewist, made it their mission to make and distribute face masks to not only provide a Center for Disease Control-approved method of safety, but to also ease the anxiety and fear surrounding the virus.