PITTSTON — Mayor Michael Lombardo is never at a loss for words when you sit down to talk to him about the City of Pittston. In fact, he has so many facts, plans and ideas in his head, you have to wonder if he has a computer chip embedded in his brain.
Lombardo’s office at City Hall is adorned not with artwork, but with architect renderings of projects currently in the process of being built or remodeled or in the planning stages.
Lombardo served eight years as mayor from 1998 to 2006 before deciding not to run for a third term to spend more time with his family. He was re-elected in 2018 and pretty much picked up where he left off in 2006.
His tenures as mayor has been sandwiched by the late Joseph Keating, Donna McFadden-Connors, first female mayor of Pittston who completed Keating’s term after he resigned; and Jason Klush, the youngest Pittston mayor elected. Lombardo had been the first youngest elected until losing that title to Klush.
Even though Lombardo was not serving as mayor of the city during the tenures of others, he kept his hand in government by being a member of the city’s Redevelopment Board.
Klush and Lombardo have been tremendous allies over the years, leaning on each other for advice and support. Both mayors have been “hands-on” mayors, not being afraid to get dirty during construction projects.
This time around, Lombardo feels he has a really good team, stating, “Everyone is on board” with his plan and vision for the city.
Serving on Pittston City Council are Danny Argo, Kenny Bangs, Joe McLean and the mayor’s cousin Michael Lombardo.
Neighborhood Housing Initiative (NHI)
In 2017, Pittston City Redevelopment began an aggressive plan to build and/or remodel 100 homes in the city that would firm up the tax base, as well as bring people to the city.
“The NHI will become the streetscape of the neighborhoods; it’s the thing that will weave it all together,” Lombardo said.
As a part of the initiative, the city has acquired blighted properties for demolition over the last few years, making way for new building projects.
“We’ve demolished a bunch of properties, including the corner of East Oak and Main Street which just came down,” Lombardo said. “Starry Nights (bar) and that middle extension of the central business district is scheduled to come down. We are looking for additional funding to take down the former Geri’s Bridal and that whole block to create a pad site for residential, retail and maybe some offices.”
Lombardo went on to say, “We are thinning the herd and getting rid of some blight and we’re starting to get a grasp of what’s not savable.”
Mayor Lombard is tough on blight in the city and affirms he will not tolerate it.
“Blight does a lot of things. It frustrates you and it makes you not want to care at the next level about your own property; it clearly has economic impact and the beauty of where we are, we’ve got a really strong partnership with the Pittston Area School District,” Lombardo said. “Everything we bring in new is taxable to the school district.”
Taking down properties means losing tax base, but the mayor is fully aware of the situation.
“There were nine properties at the site of the newly built Luzerne Bank. When you totaled the tax of all those properties, it was about $3,000 but yet the bank itself is paying probably 2½ times that,” Lombardo said. “We are paying attention to numbers. We are going to pay attention to the NHI and we’re not going to back off of it.”
Additional city housing
What brings a smile to Lombardo’s face is when you talk about housing and bringing more residents to the city.
Many more projects are in the works for the city, including the Burns Project, Fort Jenkins School Housing Project, Steeple View Housing Project, and the River Front Development Project, consisting of the Mark Data building, Cooper’s restaurant and the current condominium project on Kennedy Boulevard.
The Burns Project
The Burns Project is a three-story building across from the Pittston City fire station.
“That’s a seven to 11-unit loft complex with the possibility of putting in retail in the first floor,” Lombardo said. “It’s a $2.4 million taxable project and we have initially $225,000 of redevelopment money and gaming (casino) money for stabilization.”
The project was taken over by a second owner but, before that, the city helped with new windows, repointing of the bricks and a new roof, complete with solar panels.
“It’s a complete shell and ready to go,” Lombardo added. “As I said, it will be a $2.4 million taxable rate with high-end lofts. Some of the lofts will be two story.”
Fort Jenkins School Project
Next on the list is the Fort Jenkins School that the city acquired recently. Plans are to stabilize the building by repairing the overhangs, soffits, windows, roof, brick pointing and any other stabilization that needs to be addressed before finding a developer for the structure.
“We will find a developer, or the architect that drew up the plans or the city will develop it into market rate housings,” Lombardo said.
According to the mayor, surrounding properties have been acquired to make way for suitable parking.
Steeple View Project
The Steeple View Housing Project on Church Street has begun starting with the razing of the St. Mary’s Assumption Church and school.
“We will have 35 senior units that will look very much like the Lincoln Project, which has been a hugely successful project since it opened in 2006,” Lombardo said. “We consistently have a waiting list of about 50 elderly seniors. We think it’s a great reuse of the project.”
Lombardo went on to say that, with the large population of elderly in the city, many of those residents lived in houses that were too large to inhabit.
“The problem with wanting to move, don’t want to leave the city and don’t want to go into typical housing authority properties, they want to go into a more aggressive model that’s neighborhood-based,” Lombardo said. “By moving into a space like Steeple View, for example, their money will go farther than staying where they were and paying taxes on the property.”
The developers at Steeple View hope to have the project completed by fall 2019.
RIVER FRONT DEVELOPMENT
Mark Data Project
The Mark Data building is the largest building at 110,000 sq. ft. in the downtown area and Pat Hadley and Tino Ferretti are currently developing it.
Hadley Construction Inc. has been the leading developer in the city, working on the New Rose Building, Fuji restaurant, and the Eagan Oil building in the Junction, to name a few.
“It’s (Mark Data building) a multi-million dollar project that they will be doing 20 to 28 residential market-rate loft units,” Lombardo said. “It’s a massive investment on their part.”
Plans for the building include 10,000 to 20,000 sq. ft. of office space, including a ground level business incubator for small businesses to utilize with the possibility of retail space.
Cooper’s Restaurant Project
The River Front development includes the Mark Data building, Cooper’s restaurant and the downtown condominium along Kennedy Boulevard, which, according to the mayor, is almost full with the exception of three or four units.
Cooper’s restaurant, including the cabana, is in the process of being sold to Hadley and Ferretti.
Tentative plans for the complex call for retaining the Irish-style pub in the front of the building, keeping the cabana for summer entertainment and gutting the dining room to make it a banquet facility run by a separate entity specializing in banquets.
Lombardo believes the area is lacking a banquet hall that can seat more than 250 people and the Cooper’s Project would fill that void.
Also in the plans for Cooper’s is an extensive facelift of the exterior as well as on the Mark Data building.
No new or increased city taxes
“Last we had the best year, perhaps in 30 years, in terms of property taxes in and we haven’t increased property taxes in 10 years and I’m telling you publicly that we won’t have to do that (raise taxes) in the next 10 years,” Lombardo said confidently. “If we keep our act together, keep growing the base and, if the county does another reassessment, the city will benefit.”
