SCRANTON -- The new owner of The Mall at Steamtown in Scranton intends to keep it as a mall, but what kind of mall will be able to survive, considering that most of the stores in the mall have now left?
Real estate developer John Basalyga from Lackawanna County closed on the sale of the mall on Monday. The deed was recorded Tuesday morning in Scranton.
Basalyga says it will be business as usual at The Mall at Steamtown while he works on a new purpose for the shopping mall.
The implosion that made way for the mall in 1992 has become sort of iconic in Scranton. 23 years later, the mall's new owner says the 300 block of Lackawanna Avenue will continue to be a shopping mall.
No implosions are planned, but business leaders in Scranton say a lot has to change to make the mall successful again.
Scranton Mayor Bill Courtright says, in the meantime, the rest of downtown Scranton will benefit now that the mall is no longer in foreclosure.
"Coincidentally, I had some people in here this morning who invested in a property in the city of Scranton and they were looking to invest in another one. And I think there was such uncertainty with the mall that people were hesitant to do anything," said Mayor Courtright.
The mall's new owner is John Basalyga, a real estate developer from Lackawanna County. He wants to revitalize the downtown mall.
He's recently made a business out of making old things new again, most recently, a restaurant and two industrial buildings turned into apartments.
Business leaders say that experience may help the mall project.
"While it hasn't necessarily been something that we have done in public, we have been working on a lot of different ideas, creative ideas that we've been sharing with different players," said Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce President Bob Durkin.
Durkin says the mall should have a "mixed use" but still have some retail.
"We certainly hope that Boscov's is the anchor of that retail operation and I think John's going to bring his creativity to this."
We reached out to officials with Boscov's to get their take on the new ownership and haven't heard back.
John Basalyga says before anything happens, he plans to meet with the Chamber of Commerce, the mayor, and city council about ideas for a repurposed mall.