Thanks to the success of its Valley View Business Park and Jessup Small Business Center, the Scranton Lackawanna Industrial Building Company (SLIBCO) is moving ahead with the development of a new 23-acre professional plaza.
The upcoming Valley View Business Park Professional Plaza will house businesses and amenities — a hotel, restaurant, bank, daycare center, mini-mart, for example — to support the existing business parks across the street.
“The Valley View Business Park and the Jessup Small Business Center have proven to be successful endeavors and continue to grow and expand,” says Andy Skrip, vice president of the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce; SLIBCO is the chamber’s industrial development affiliate. “The next phase of development — creating a professional plaza to serve these companies — is essential to maintaining thriving business parks.”
SLIBCO is marketing the four available lots to commercial developers and Skrip hopes to see construction underway next year.
Meanwhile, SLIBCO is designing the necessary infrastructure — the site currently consists of abandoned strip mines, subsurface mines and solid waste deposits, and will require environmental remediation to return it to productive use.
SLIBCO has secured $2.5 million in grants, loans and its own funding contribution. According to Skrip, the project will create about 250 construction jobs, and another 250 permanent jobs at build-out.
“We're excited about this development and what it means to the ongoing success of the Valley View Business Park and Jessup Small Business Center,” he adds. “To be developing a commercial amenity park strictly to support a larger economic development project speaks to the confidence the community has in this major regional commerce center.”
Source: Andy Skrip, Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce
Writer: Elise Vider