I neglected to post the full article regarding the proposal for the depot...here 'tis: Oh and by the way this station should not be confused with Scranton's very handsome other train station.....the larger grander one at the other end of Lackawanna Ave.
10/27/2006
Old building, new look
BY ROGER DUPUIS II
STAFF WRITER
$2M state grant will help restore freight station to restaurant/retail
Once a hub of railroad traffic for the region, a historic train station could soon become a hub of redevelopment on downtown Scranton’s west side.
A $2 million state grant, announced Thursday, will help fund the first phase of a $4.45 million project to renovate the Central New Jersey station for use as a restaurant and retail complex.
“We classify this as a community project,” said city businessman Jerry Donahue, managing partner of Central New Jersey RR Station LP, which purchased the building in 2000. “It’s not just a rehabilitation of the Central New Jersey. It’s a gateway for downtown Scranton.”
Built in 1891, the turreted, Queen Anne-style station at 602 W. Lackawanna Ave. was designed primarily to facilitate shipping of coal from the area. It remained in use as freight station until the mid-1950s. It became a produce warehouse after that and was owned by the Cognetti family. Last used in the 1980s, the building has been virtually empty for the past 20 years.
Touring its cavernous halls Thursday, Mr. Donahue pointed out what and where various features might be, notably a “midrange” steakhouse with outdoor seating, a coffee shop, retail operations and possibly office space. When completed, the depot will contain 26,804 square feet of rentable commercial space on four levels.
Coupled with planned reconstruction of the adjacent Lackawanna Avenue bridge and development of an intermodal transportation center across the street, the rail station’s renaissance would help put the crowning touches on what Mayor Chris Doherty sees as a chain of redevelopment projects across central city in recent years.
“Four years ago, I said I wanted to connect the dots along Lackawanna Avenue. This is the destination,” Mr. Doherty said, referencing successful east end achievements anchored by the Radisson Hotel in the old Lackawanna Station. “Project by project, step by step, that’s how you change a city.”
Work on the CNJ depot is expected to get fully under way next spring and will take about a year to complete.
A two-year, $3 million reconstruction of the Lackawanna bridge should be put out to bid in July, state Department of Transportation spokeswoman Karen Dussinger said, with work beginning before the end of 2007.
Like the depot project, work on the 1940s-era bridge has been delayed several times. Mr. Donahue said his group wanted to wait until a solid date was set for the bridge reconstruction before launching their own endeavor.
Then, too, landing the state grant helped.
Mr. Doherty was a key advocate for the grant, which was secured by state Sen. Robert J. Mellow and comes from the state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, the station has all the feel of a museum piece — albeit a forlorn one.
Stenciled tenant names still can be read on the doors of upstairs offices, and a trainmen’s mess room still contains period lockers, some adorned with decades-old pinups and other mementos of long-dead railroaders.
One of those lockers bears the name of Joe Donahue, with a hand-scrawled note: “Spend a nickel, Joe.”
“When I saw that, I thought maybe it’s my ancestors, giving me advice,” Mr. Donahue quipped.
His group has spent about $1 million so far, and will finance the $2.45 million balance of phase one through private investment.
Even with the paint peeling and so much work to be done, he pointed to one feature that doesn’t need much help. The building’s brick structure was designed to withstand decades of pounding by steam locomotives that used the depot.
He said the renovations will bring in new uses while trying to preserve historic character and features.
Take, for example, the 26 different types of windows in the station. They’ll be replaced with modern reproductions designed for energy efficiency, while echoing the originals as closely as possible.
He said renovations will be done following guidelines set by the state Historical and Museum Commission.
Contact the writer:
rdupuis@timesshamrock.com
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