After Scranton notified the Finch Towers apartment building it has not complied with the city’s rental registration ordinance requirements since 2022, the property began the process to comply, a city official said Thursday.
In a letter mailed Feb. 3 to the property owner, Finch Tower Assoc. & Scandale N of Horsham, the city said the building at 434-436 Wyoming Ave. has not registered as a rental property with the city for the years of 2022-2026, and has not paid unspecified annual registration fees for an unknown number of units.
The city considers the building “an unlawful rental dwelling” and asked to have it registered within 15 days and pay the past-due rental registration fees, according to the letter provided Wednesday to The Times-Tribune from the city.
The issue arose during the Lackawanna County Commissioners’ meeting Wednesday morning, when a Finch Towers resident expressed concern that residents had 15 days to vacate the building, adding, “I’ve got no place to go.”
Lackawanna County Commissioner Chairman Thom Welby said the board was not aware of the situation but would look into it.
The Times-Tribune inquired with the city about the matter. Deputy City Solicitor Mariclare Hayes said the letter was posted Wednesday morning at Finch Towers but soon removed and the city is not requiring apartments there to be vacated as the city works through the issue with the property owner.
“While there are in fact outstanding issues regarding rental registration obligations, the City intends to continue to pursue these matters directly with the property owner. We are not shutting down Finch Towers, and the current residents are not in danger of eviction,” Hayes said Wednesday in an email.
On Thursday, Hayes said, “The owner of the property made contact with the City today and has begun the process of bringing the property into compliance with the Rental Registration Ordinance.”
Efforts were unsuccessful Wednesday and Thursday to reach Finch Towers management about the matter. A website of the Finch Towers management firm said the building has 48 units, including efficiency and one-bedroom units, for persons age 62 and older or disabled, and with affordable rent based on income qualifications. The website gives the Finch Towers address as 424 Wyoming Ave.
Built in 1889 and designed by W. Scott Collins, Finch Towers features distinctive architecture, according to the Society of Architectural Historians. It’s website contains the following description of the building: “French Chateauesque’s origins in the Romanesque are evidenced in this building by Collins, who headed the architectural department of the International Correspondence Schools (ICS). It was designed to house ICS, a mail-order school founded in Shenandoah, Schuylkill County (and famous for its matchbook advertising), which prepared aspiring miners for their qualifying examinations. The building was later sold to the Hudson Coal Company and today it serves as housing for the elderly.”
Finch Towers in Scranton in 2001. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)