What Do You Think of Montage Mountain? (Scranton, Wilkes-Barre: cul-de-sac, ski resort)

[ScranBarre]

Montage Mountain, located partially in both Scranton and Moosic in Southern Lackawanna County, has long been hailed as both a boon and a burden to our region. I've heard some visitors who passed by the mountain along I-81 saying it was "neat to see how much the area was progressing." I also heard others lamenting such a "disgusting waste of open space for low-density sprawl." What do others think?

Originally this mountain was only supposed to house the ski resort (now Sno Mountain) and the stadium (now PNC Field). Since then the mountain has mushroomed to include 60 businesses at the Shoppes at Montage, the Cinemark Theater, three adjacent restaurants (with more to come), the Lackawanna County Visitors' Center, a Marriott Courtyard Hotel, major installations for Bank of America, CIGNA HealthCare, MetLife, PNC Bank, Prudential Financial, and many other white-collar firms, a law office, a ski shop, a gas station with an attached Cold Stone Creamery, a country club, and a massive residential community known as Glenmaura. A new Lowe's Home Improvement store and Target are also planned on the mountain at some point in the future on a parcel of land near to the MetLife Building. PNC Field is potentially being replaced by a more modern stadium that will also feature a Yankees hotel, Yankees museum, and a shopping center.

Traffic congestion here can be heinous at times, especially when concerts at the Toyota Pavillion coincide with Yankees games, shift changes at the corporate centers, a popular movie debut, and a popular shopping day. I myself have had to wait 20 minutes at times to turn left from the bottom of Glenmaura National Boulevard onto Montage Mountain Road (near the visitors' center) due to the excessive volume of traffic. One would assume Moosic would station a traffic cop there, but it appears the idiotic elected officials there would prefer to simply reap the tax benefits of all of this new sprawl without providing adequate municipal services for those keeping these businesses afloat.

Here are some images from the mountain for those who are unfamiliar with it and its surroundings:


Here is the overall site plan for most of Montage Mountain. The left half of the map (yellow color) is residential with upscale detached single-family homes in the $400,000-$1,000,000+ range, with the exception of Glenmaura Commons, which features upscale townhomes in the $350,000-$400,000 range. The pink areas on the right-hand side are commercially-zoned areas.


This is a close-up of the commercial area. Here you can see that by and large there is still a ton of land awaiting development. Lot 16 might be home to a proposed Target and Lowe's Home Improvement. There is room for five other restaurants along the long cul-de-sac near Johnny Rockets. If and when the stadium complex is expanded, the #17 lots might be included.


Here is a site plan for the Shoppes at Montage.

What say you all? Has Montage Mountain put our area on the map in a positive way, or has it only succeeded in draining more vitality out of our existing core communities via urban sprawl?

[Chefkey]

More growth no matter where in the valley only adds to making the area a desirable place to live. SWB, I know you mention urban sprawl alot as being a problem for the inner cities of the area but I believe that this sprawl will eventually fill up and spill back into the core areas. With continued growth, businesses and new residents will be enticed to build here further enhancing the area's economy. I think a viable solution while not favorable to you is to ask our politicians to keep all of the government services headquartered in the downtown sections and try to make it an attractive area for lawyers, accountants and such to place businesses. We all need to face the fact that how we shop has changed radically over the last decade and this trend will only continue.

When people want to shop they will go to the suburbs. When they want to do administrative duties they will head downtown. Keep the Colleges growing and this will help fill the vacant buildings and void left by the stores that no longer are there.

Of course with the Colleges growing and places like the Sterling Hotel becoming Apartments or Condos and other housing projects finished it may entice convenience stores to locate downtown. Coffee shops, fast food etc. But to think that we are going to see a vibrant shopping destination come back to the downtown areas is unrealistic I believe.

I still think the downtown has a chance to be great again but just not with shopping.

[A_D_M]

I didn't vote either way. Personally, by living in Avoca, it is much closer for me to shop and dine out at Montage than it is to drive to Dickson City or Wilkes-Barre with the price of gas. As for the traffic, Wilkes-Barre Twp. and Dickson City ain't much better.
It's funny, so many people in NEPA cry poverty, But with the looks at the traffic at all the shopping centers and the lines out the doors at the chain restaurants people must have alot of disposable income.

[KarenRice]

I wonder how much of that shopping is done with credit cards?

[Chefkey]

Good Point Karen, we need to wean ourselves of such irresponsible behaviour. The bankers got us hooked on that first and then went to real estate.

[A_D_M]

Originally Posted by KarenRice

I wonder how much of that shopping is done with credit cards?

I knew someone would say that, typical NEPA answer,

CC bills still have to be paid, I'm sure alot of people use there CC wisely, not everybody is in CC debt

Regardless weather money is being spent at these places in cash or by CC, money is still being spent!

[ScranBarre]

I just hate seeing how run-down and depressing our core boroughs and cities look while Dickson City, Wilkes-Barre Township, Moosic, and soon even Pittston Township are all booming. Every dollar spent at the Shoppes at Montage is one less dollar spent in Downtown Scranton. Every dollar spent at the Arena Hub Plaza is one less dollar spent in Downtown Wilkes-Barre. Newcomers to our region aren't going to think it's a great place to live just because it managed to lure in a dozen Wal-Marts.

The GAP store moved out of Downtown Scranton to head to the Shoppes at Montage. It was replaced by some undesirable whigger-style store. S & K Menswear did the same thing, and I think a massage parlor now sits in its wake. Other stores are likewise expected to continue leaving Downtown Scranton in favor of the Shoppes at Montage, leaving either vacant storefronts in their wake or being replaced by more undesirable elements. Every one of those shiny office buildings on the mountain was unnecessary when there are so many vacant office buildings already sitting in both Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. It's just such an unnecessary waste of land, in my opinion.

Chefkey's logic sounds fine, but let's not forget that the Wyoming Valley Mall opened up over three decades ago. Has all of the growth in Wilkes-Barre Township since then made Downtown Wilkes-Barre more vibrant than it was before the mall opened? Certainly not. I don't quite see how the continuing development of Montage Mountain is supposed to revitalize Downtown Scranton when thus far it has only succeeded in drawing business away from the city.

I'm tired of living on the edge of a dump like Pittston when my own hometown of Pittston Township is about to hit a MAJOR growth spurt from 2008-2009. How will the new Pittston Crossings Mall, Center Point, Home Depot, etc. being built here in Pittston Township benefit Downtown Pittston? I'm just not seeing it.

[I LOVE PA!]

The subject of urban sprall just doesn't grab me...
Living on Long Island, where everything was already developed for as long as I could remember. It had happened years before I moved there. It is unavoidable and is happening everywhere. You don't have to like it, but you're not going to stop it. Look at how far we have come (or gone?) since the 'Little house on the prairie days'.

[cjseliga]

Looking at the blow up of the Bank of America building location, it looks like 80% of the building is actually in Scranton. I knew the city line was close, since Sno Mountain is in Scranton, but i didn't realize the building for the most part is actually in Scranton and not in Moosic.

[pixieshmoo]

I just came across this topic and was wondering, is Montage Mountain done or are they still building? I'm curious because we just took the kids a few weeks ago to the Jonas Brothers concert there and while I liked it, the part where the "arena" was seemed kind of "unfinished" a lot of grass and dirt still. I understand the lawn will always be there, as is the PNC Bank Arts Center here in Jersey, but like I said, Montage seemed to have an unfinished look around the stage, etc. And the lighting wasn't the greatest, but otherwise, we had a great time and it's a nice place.