SCRANTON — Lackawanna County hopes to sell 10 county-owned parcels totaling about 300 acres in the North Pocono area — land the county acquired as part of a larger acquisition in 2007.
Commissioners on Wednesday authorized Nasser Real Estate to list the properties, all of which are located in either Covington or Elmhurst townships and range in size from 1.51 acres to 80.75 acres. The Covington parcels are located in the areas of Lehigh Road and Freytown Road in the township, while the Elmhurst properties are located in the areas of Front and North Main streets, Simerson Road and State Route 435.
Records show the county acquired at least 9 of the 10 properties as part of large acquisition in May 2007, when Theta Land Corp. sold about 5,000 acres of watershed land to the state, county and a conservation group for about $5.2 million. Officials at the time lauded the land buy as a conservation and preservation effort, with the state providing $1.2 million and the county $4 million for the purchase.
Theta Land Corp. transferred the acreage to the Conservation Fund, a nonprofit involved in the sale, which then transferred it to the county for $4 million, according a deed signed May 10, 2017.
Mortgage documents obtained by The Times-Tribune show Dunmore businessman Louis DeNaples borrowed $10 million against Theta Land Corp.’s holdings in 2012, though DeNaples has denied involvement with the company.
More than a decade after the land sale, however, officials say the county has no use for the 10 undeveloped parcels it now hopes to sell. Returning those parcels to tax-producing status is in the best interest of the county, Commissioner Laureen Cummings said.
Nasser appraised the 10 parcels last year, though the value of the appraisal was unavailable Wednesday.
Commissioners only authorized Nasser to list the properties at market value. If a buyer makes an offer on any of the parcels, commissioners will still have to approve the sale, county General Counsel Donald Frederickson said.
Meanwhile, Commissioner Jerry Notarianni said he’s studying the issue further to make sure the properties can legally be sold. If state money was used to acquire the parcels originally, there may be restrictions on how the land can be sold or transferred.
“To sell land that serves no useful purpose to Lackawanna County and getting it back on the tax rolls is a wonderful concept, as long as it’s done for the right reasons and in the right ways,” Notarianni said.
Efforts to reach Commissioner Patrick O’Malley after the meeting were unsuccessful.
In other business Wednesday, commissioners awarded a contract for interior restoration work on the first floor of the downtown Bank Towers building to Sean Byrne Construction, who submitted the low bid of $29,954.
Before relocating to the county’s new government center at the former Globe store, the Scranton Lackawanna Human Development Agency leased about 11,500 square feet of space in Bank Towers. Language in SLHDA’s prior lease with 321 Development LP, the firm that owns Bank Towers at 321 Spruce St., requires the county to restore the first-floor space SLHDA once occupied to the condition it was in before the lease commenced.
The interior work comes amid an ongoing rent dispute between the county and 321 Development LP over nearly $300,000 in rent and fees the company claims the county owes after SLHDA moved offices to the Globe.
Bank Towers attorney John McGovern in April filed legal action signed by 321 Development LP principal Joseph Ferrario, and the county responded in May. The legal matter is independent of the first-floor interior work.
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