Prolific developer buys another building in downtown Scranton

Jim Lockwood, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
·3 min read

Jun. 19—SCRANTON — Prolific developer Charles Jefferson purchased another building downtown.

A Jefferson company, Scranton-Kane LLC of Allentown, bought a four-story commercial structure at 116 N. Washington Ave. for $2.45 million from North Washington Group LLC of Dunmore, according to public records of real estate transactions.

Jefferson's other properties in Scranton include several commercial structures, some of which he converted into apartment/residential buildings. Those include Connell Lofts, also in the 100 block of North Washington Avenue; Mulberry 426 at Mulberry Street and North Washington Avenue, the former Chamber of Commerce building; Samter's Lofts at Penn and Lackawanna avenues, the former Samter's department store; 200 Adams, formerly the Lackawanna County Administration Building and Stoehr & Fister furniture company; in the 300 block of Adams Avenue, the Leonard Theater and two former Scranton Counseling Center buildings across the street; The Herold Building, 618 Mulberry St.; and Montage Mountain ski resort.

His latest acquisition, 116 N. Washington Ave. that spans to 128 N. Washington Ave., is believed to date to the early 1900s. Over the years, it has housed many businesses and offices and has been known by several names, including Select, Goodwill and Kane.

Current occupants include law firms, retail stores and a restaurant. There also are several vacancies.

In a phone interview, Jefferson said he plans to keep the building as is, with street level retail and offices above, at least for several years, and may later consider converting upper floors into apartments.

"I'm going to keep it as commercial," Jefferson said. "It has enough tenants in there to sustain it. For at least the next four to five years, it will be offices."

He plans to redo the first-story portion of the facade that is not original, as well as interior common areas and the lobby, all with an eye toward historical restoration. Such work may involve removing dropped ceilings and flooring that covered original elements.

"I'm doing my homework to find out what it looked like," Jefferson said.

Dennis O'Brien of Scranton, who was the building superintendent from 2005-17 and still fills in occasionally, said he believes the building's construction was intended as utilitarian.

"This was strictly utility, not for particular beauty," O'Brien said Friday during a stint filling in as superintendent.

An article in The Scranton Times from 1945 reported the building had about 50 offices and studios and six street-level businesses. Tenants at that time included the WARM radio station, furniture, photo, ladies apparel and shoe stores, and a restaurant.

The building has underground parking, a rarity downtown, Jefferson said. With the residential sector downtown doing well and retail rebounding, Jefferson decided to buy the office/retail building.

"Maybe there's some opportunity to attract some businesses to the downtown," Jefferson said. "I think there's a synergy, when you get more people it begets more people."

{span}Staff Librarian Brian Fulton contributed to this article. Contact the writer: {/span}jlockwood@timesshamrock.com{span}; 570-348-9100 x5185; @jlockwoodTT on Twitter.{/span}