Hinerfeld Commercial Real Estate brokered the sale of 150 Grove Street in Dunmore, PA. The property has sold to a coffee manufacturer from New Jersey to move its operations to PA. Until the 90’s, the 166,499 square feet facility operated as a silk mill and provided hundreds of jobs to the community during the booming post-WWII era. The initial portion of the building was constructed in 1919 with multiple additions added through the 60’s to accommodate its changing manufacturing needs.
This is an exciting opportunity for Dunmore. There will once again be walkable manufacturing jobs at this property – a trend which is on the rise. This trend will benefit Lackawanna and Luzerne county communities full of under-utilized or vacant industrial properties located in neighborhoods which used to be in full operation. People used to walk to work – saving cost of additional vehicles and expenses. Living near the workplace was a norm for the local communities and we can expect manufacturers to look for comparable properties in neighborhoods around the greater Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area since the cost savings to families is an economic benefit given to the workers without a tax to the company.
The costs to operate in New Jersey in combination with the pressure owners of industrial properties are facing to decide the greater return lies with the redevelopment of apartments is pushing manufacturers west. As a brokerage firm, we are hopeful that economic development organizations throughout the northeast work together to create a greater product than that sum of its parts as a united northeastern Pennsylvania to capture such opportunities for growth.
Keeping jobs close to home and improved public transportation will keep the area competitive for the ever-increasing millennial workforce percentage known for its revolutionary “live-work-play” response to the generation’s endured economic and social factors to date. The urban redevelopment of downtown is going on right before our eyes. Shared office space, the rental vs. the purchase of just about everything continues keeping the workforce agile and flexible for the next economic opportunity from coast to coast.
The application of Penn’s Northeast in pursuit of the corporate giant, Amazon, to bring its headquarters here was an exciting and fitting example of a region eager to grow and prosper once again using some of the old bones of prior facilities to compete in the modern era. Along with downtown regions improving, the I-81 corridor is one of the fastest growing markets for industrial/logistics use in the country and is a hotbed for investment dollars from equity groups nationwide. These are exciting times for northeastern Pennsylvania. John T. Cognetti, president of Hinerfeld Commercial Real Estate and Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) and member of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR), and Elijah Miller brokered the sale.
