POLL: New "Mystery" Projects Coming to Downtown Scranton? (Wilkes-Barre: 2010, how much)

[ScranBarre]

Is anyone else as intrigued as I am about one of the top stories in this morning's Times-Tribune? Apparently the same man who is supposed to EVENTUALLY bring St. Peter's Square and Jefferson Pointe to the Electric City is also about to release some exciting information that is contingent upon the county working with him to permit him to acquire property. Local developer Jerry Joyce, who owns Normany Holdings, is interested in purchasing the Pennsylvania Gas & Water Building at 135 Jefferson Avenue, which is sited between Rocky's Nightclub and the Jefferson Pointe site, or roughly across the street from the Radisson Hotel.

Mr. Joyce said he has a "major New York-based, publicly-traded financial services firm that does not yet exist in Lackawanna County" lined up to move into the building assuming that the county commissioners will sell the structure to Mr. Joyce for $1.6 million within the next few weeks. The company coming here will hinge upon as to whether or not they can be here by January. What is good about this project is that the county will charge Mr. Joyce with a $500,000 penalty if he does not follow through with this project, just as he has not shown any progress over the past four years in his Jefferson Pointe or St. Peter's Square mixed-use projects.

According to Commissioner Robert C. Cordaro "That penalty is sufficient to easily overpay us for the building if he is not successful." This penalty was established because the county will likely sell the building for slightly less than its market value in order to bring major economic development to the site. This firm is expected to bring 40 white-collar positions, something the downtown direly needs.

Mr. Joyce also stated that he has another publicly-traded company in "advanced negotiations" to acquire 55,000 square feet of office space next-door at the long-awaited Jefferson Pointe project that has yet to materialize. If and when he lands this tenant, the project might move forward (just in time for me to move to one of the upper-level units by 2010!) This particular firm has the promise to bring 200 white-collar positions downtown, bringing the total tally between the two proposed firms to 240.

In closing, Mr. Cordaro also said in reference to the financial services firm slated for the county-owned building "They're for real. They want to come here to Downtown Scranton. We've listed this building as surplus and have been looking to sell it one way or another for the past 2.5 years."

So now the guessing game begins. The poll above is multiple-choice, so please select the two publicly-traded firms (which don't yet have a presence in Lackawanna County) you think might be coming to Scranton!

[ScranBarre]

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner! Way to go ScrantonLuna! Today the Times-Tribune revealed one of these interested firms to be Merrill Lynch, which already has a presence in Wilkes-Barre. This project is now in jeopardy though as the incoming majority county commissioners already mentioned they are opposed to the project because they county needs the space. My solution would be to sell this building to the developer and then use the proceeds from selling THIS building and several others to buy a LARGER building to consolidate county offices and storage space.

[ScranBarre]

In a totally unrelated matter, there was another announcement today about another firm setting up shop downtown in the long underutilized Scranton Enterprise Center business incubator along Lackawanna Avenue, across from the Mall at Steamtown. SRA International (SRX), a business consulting firm based in Northern Virginia, is opening two offices in mid-December in the facility. Starting off with only a few employees initially, the company expects the firm to grow in relation to the upcoming Wall Street West initiative, which has now also attracted at least two other firms---Seccas and Merrill Lynch, to Downtown Scranton.

Ron Gornto, vice president and director of technology solutions was quoted in today's Scranton Times-Tribune as saying "We're excited about the Scranton area and the whole Northeastern Pennsylvania area. I will have three senior people there. How much it will grow and how fast is yet to be determined."

Mayor Chris Doherty said that the firm approached the city six months ago wanting to move to Scranton, and he mentioned the possibility of the workforce growing to 100. (Then again, we all know how many promises the mayor has broken).

As someone who will be graduating with a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting in 2009 and will be actively seeking work in Downtown Scranton near my future home, the announcements of these Wall Street West firms certainly is promising.