Progress

August 14, 2008

LCCC moves to lease, then buy Kanjo center

Solicitor given OK to negotiate as college plans to put Health Sciences Center downtown.

SHERRY LONG slong@timesleader.com

NANTICOKE – Plans to move parts of Luzerne County Community College into downtown Nanticoke are moving forward.

The LCCC Board of Trustees on Tuesday unanimously authorized the college’s solicitor, Joe Kluger, to negotiate the lease and eventual purchase of the Kanjorski Center on the college’s behalf.

“This is an important step because this is the step that the college basically commits itself to tell our solicitor, go ahead and make the deal happen,” LCCC Board President Tom Leary said.

Last summer, the college announced plans to expand its Health Sciences Center by moving it into the downtown Kanjorski Center facility on Main Street by next January.

Now, Leary thinks that if the negotiations are wrapped up within the next few weeks, students could be studying in the new facility sometime in the summer of 2010. It should take approximately 13 months to complete renovations for the Kanjorski Center.

It’s unknown exactly when the negotiations for the Kanjorski Center will be finalized, but Kluger has been told to work as quickly as possible.

Once Kluger receives the proposed contract from the Nanticoke Municipal Authority, he will review the legal documentation and then present it to the trustees for their input. The authority owns the building and has permission to negotiate its sale on behalf of the city.

The LCCC board of trustees must approve any contract terms and price before any sale can be completed.

Supporters of the project see this as a revitalization boom for Nanticoke because it will inject more people into the city’s main business district.

“It’s been a long time coming and the college has been waiting for the city to get its ducks in a row. They’ve been very patient,” Nanticoke Mayor John Bushko said.

Plans to move the college’s culinary arts center into downtown Nanticoke is moving forward, Leary said. It will be the second phase of the expansion-into-downtown project.

The college’s culinary arts department personnel, deans and vice presidents approve of the designs submitted so far for the culinary arts center.

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