Rooms with a view

John Terrana loves living in Greater Pittston so much he’s convinced everyone else will too. That’s why he’s involved in the development of Stauffer Pointe, 181 town homes under construction on a 41-acre site along Stauffer Heights, Hughestown, and occupying the former Fleming Park at the top of Butler Street in Pittston City.

“When I was in law school the other students always said I was the most homesick guy in Washington, D.C.,” Terrana said during a tour of the project. “They were right. The Dispatch had run a picture of St. John the Evangelist Church – my church – on the front page and I cut it out and hung it over my desk so I could look at it every day. It was my pin-up.”

Terrana, who practices law out of an office in Kingston but makes his home in Greater Pittston, is partnered in the Stauffer Pointe project with his brother, Atty. Angelo Terrana, Armand Mascioli (who owns Grotto Pizza with his uncle, Joe Paglianite, and who developed Marina Pointe at Grotto Pizza at Harveys Lake, along with Angelo Terrana), Mark Popple of Popple Construction Company, and John Giambra (who also serves as general contractor.)

In addition to the 181 town homes, Stauffer Pointe will include a community house and community swimming pool.

“We’re investing tens of millions of dollars,” Terrana said. “That’s how sure we are that people will want to live here. We think they’ll be sold on the view alone.”

The residences will consist of units offering 2200 sq. ft., 2100 sq. ft., or 1700 sq. ft. of living space. Prices range from $239,000 to $277,000.

All residences will have stone fronts, and the development will be divided into three different shades of stone, grey, blue, and sandstone, Terrana said. All have large basements with high ceilings.

In keeping with his “love of Greater Pittston” theme, Terrana stressed “we’re using as many local manufactures as we possibly can. We are also using local merchants for all of our fixtures and appliances so that all of Greater Pittston will benefit from our investment.”

He added, “all of our homes are stick built from scratch on the premises in accordance with our architect’s drawings and specifications.”

“When I was in college,” Terrana said, “I took a picture of my girlfriend standing on a lot in Stauffer Heights overlooking what is now our development. My dream was to buy the lot and build a house ‘when I grew up’ but I didn’t have any money then. Now, I’m one the owners of all the land that was in that picture and we’re making a beautiful neighborhood for others to enjoy.”

Terrana’s enthusiasm for his home town aside, on-site sales director Susan Parrick said the developers anticipate a great demand for town homes based on early market studies. “The location of Stauffer Pointe – just minutes from I-81, the Pennsylvania turnpike, and major local highways – is ideal for this type of project,” she said. “The growth of new and existing businesses and proximity to major health care facilities, colleges and universities, a new medical school, an expanding industrial base, and major recreational attractions like minor league hockey, baseball, harness racing and Mohegan Sun, contribute to the need for affordable, luxury housing.”

Parrick, whose grandfather Frank Pavlico owned Frank’s Lunch on Main Street, Pittston, said buyers could be in their new Stauffer Pointe town home as early as late fall of this year or early winter, 2009. “During Phase I construction,” she added, “early buyers will receive a luxury upgrade package valued at up to $12,000 which includes a granite kitchen, fireplace and jetted whirlpool master bath.”

She said the first sale recently took place. Phyllis and Lee Umphred signed a sales agreement on their new town home which is currently under construction at 54 Grandview Drive. “Mr. Umphred is formerly from the Wilkes-Barre area,” Parrick said. “The retired couple owns a home in The Villages, Florida, where they typically spend the winter months. They now look forward to spending summers on the porch of their new home at Stauffer Pointe.”

The Stauffer Pointe Real Estate Listing agent is Joseph J. Mantione, a Pittston native who owns and operates JJ Mantione Appraisal and Realty Group. For sales information, contact Susan Parrick at 877-442-8439 or Joe Mantione at 570-613-9080.

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Progress

181 town homes under construction at Stauffer Pointe

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