New Corporate center’s first tenant breaks ground

SCRANTON – The first tenant of Mount Pleasant Corporate Center, Seventh Avenue and Linden Street, Scranton, broke ground Friday morning.

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Shelby Fisk / The Times Leader

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An artist's arerial view shows what the Mount Pleasant Corporate Center in Scranton could look like after completion.

Shelby Fisk / The Times Leader

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Beacon Summit at Scranton LLC, a division of Beacon Medical Real Estate LLC, is expected to begin construction on a 30,000-square-foot, two-story medical/professional services building in the business park in December. The project is expected to be completed in the fall.

The Scranton Lackawanna Industrial Building Company of the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce sold the 3.26 acre lot to the Linden, N.J.-based company for $792,000.

Vincent Visceglia, a partner of Beacon Medical Real Estate, said construction is expected to cost approximately $6 million.

“Were using almost exclusively local, Scranton professionals (for construction),” Visceglia said. He did not specify how many jobs would be created, resulting from the project, but cited other city developments as a reason for choosing Scranton for the facility.

“The recent development in the Scranton area, specifically The Commonwealth Medical College, was what initially attracted our group to Scranton and this site,” said Daniel Siegel, a partner of Beacon Medical Real Estate. “This is an ideal location for a professional office building and we are hoping that this is the first of many development opportunities here.

"Yesterday Warren Buffett and Bill Gates were on television and they announced that the recession is over. Here in Scranton, I think the signs are very encouraging for us - the best sign that the beginning of the end of the recession is happening is when businesses begin to invest," said Austin Burke president of the Scranton Chamber of Commerce. "Education and medicine are the two industries that are going to lead Scranton out of this recession.

"Today's groundbreaking," Burke said. "Signals the beginning of the end of Scranton's recession."

SLIBCO purchased the 23-acre tract of land from Keystone Concrete Block Supply to develop the $7 million corporate center.
Mount Pleasant Corporate Center is a 23-acre tract of land that SLIBCO purchased in March 2008 from Keystone Concrete Block Supply. SLIBCO expects the project will result in the development of more than 210,000 square feet of space and the creation of 1,000 jobs. When completed, the park will consist of five lots ranging from 1.7 to 9.5 acres, which will be available for commercial/retail development.
During the summer, the corporate center was designated a tax-free Keystone Opportunity Zone property.

“We’re proud to be the first. We’re committed to this project,” Visceglia said. “Of course, we’d love some company; but I think when people see the success that we’ve had and the occupancy that we hope to achieve in the first 12 months after completion that others will follow. And we always have the opportunity to expand our operations here.

“If we’re successful …there may be room for another 30,000-square-foot medical building to fill the real need in Scranton.”

Beacon Medical Real Estate manages more than 30 medical arts buildings in New York and New Jersey.