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The fate of a massive, decaying former bowling alley in Nanticoke may be decided in Thursday’s Luzerne County back-tax auction.
Once the L.S. Bowl-A-Rama, the nearly 122,000-square-foot structure runs the entire length of East Washington Street between South Prospect and South Walnut streets.
City Code Enforcement Officer Jack Minsavage said Monday he has received multiple complaints about the property over the years and processed various code violations at the site.
“It’s been an ongoing issue,” he said.
The property was in the limelight a decade ago this month when law enforcement raided the structure and discovered marijuana plants growing in the basement of the facility, which had closed down about four years before, according to past published reports. George Ellis, of Ellis Investment Inc., owned the building at that time and ended up pleading guilty to possessing more than 1,100 marijuana plants and money laundering, reports said.
After years of tax delinquency and continued deterioration, the property was listed in the county’s 2014 free-and-clear auction at $856 and ended up fetching the highest bid of the sale — $70,000 — following heated competition between Hazleton area resident Pasquale Scalleat and businessmen affiliated with a nearby market and deli.
Scalleat prevailed and purchased the property through PS Capital Ventures Inc., saying the demolition and salvage company he operates would remove the eyesore structure so the 1.6-acre parcel could be developed. Scalleat could not be reached for comment Monday.
The promised demolition never happened, and the property is up for sale again because it now carries $24,233 in unpaid real estate taxes dating back to 2015, according to officials and records.
With no takers at a prior first-stage auction, the property is now listed in Thursday’s free-and-clear sale in which liens and back taxes are no longer attached.
Bidding starts at $1,803. If the property does not sell, it will go into a repository pool and may be purchased at any time with approval from taxing bodies.
Nanticoke Councilman Kevin Coughlin said Monday he and his council colleagues have long been troubled by the property but could not secure funds to acquire and demolish it. He is hopeful a responsible buyer with financial resources will successfully bid on the structure so the site can be redeveloped.
“I feel sorry for the people who live around it,” Coughlin said. “It’s such a blighted building. It’s terrible.”
Auction details
Thursday’s sale, which begins at 10 a.m., is the last of the year and designed to address properties previously removed from auctions due to court orders or notification issues, according to Sean Shamany, a representative of county tax-claim overseer Northeast Revenue Service LLC.
Both types of auctions — first-stage “upset” and free-and-clear “judicial” ones — will be held Thursday at the King’s College Scandlon Physical Education Center, 150 N. Main St., in Wilkes-Barre.
A listing of the available properties and information on bidding is posted at www.luzernecountytaxclaim.com.