After a debt restructuring last year, Scranton’s downtown parking system brought in more revenue, according to a recent report from the outside operators of the system.
In July, the city passed legislation to help the outside operators of the city parking system of garages and street-metered spaces restructure their debt and avoid a default that would have harmed the city’s financial stability and creditworthiness.
Key planks of refinancing
• Weekday street parking hours expanded. The refinancing’s main change for motorists and downtown businesses was an expansion of street-metered parking hours on weekdays from 5 to 7 p.m. That’s two extra hours of having to pay for street parking at payment kiosks. An 8 a.m. start time to pay for street parking remained the same. The expanded hours started in August.
• Saturday street parking remained free, for now. The plan initially called for going from free street parking Saturdays to having to pay at kiosks for parking from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. The downtown businesses community, residents and others opposed charging for street parking on Saturdays. The city negotiated keeping Saturday street parking free, in exchange for the city contributing $50,000 a year for three years to offset the $75,000 in revenue that Saturday hours were estimated to generate.
• That extra contribution was part of the city providing $2.15 million to the system over 10 years. The initial refinancing plan called for the city to contribute $2 million over 10 years, or $200,000 a year, to the parking system for capital maintenance and repairs. Under a negotiation to keep Saturday street parking free, the city instead agreed to contribute $250,000 a year for the first three years of the 10-year period, or $50,000 more per those first three years; and then revisit the Saturday hours situation after three years.
• Parking rates rose 25 cents in 2026: The street-metered rate paid at kiosks increased from $2 per hour to $2.25; while the parking garage rate rose from $1 per hour for up to 10 hours to $1.25 per hour. These increases were previously approved several years ago to take effect in 2026.
• By allowing the refinancing, bondholders took “a $15 million haircut,” meaning a reduction by $15 million in the amount of the returns they initially expected to receive over the life of the bonds over 45 years, or from 2016 to 2061. The refinancing also extended the term of the arrangement another nine years, to 2070.
Default and monetization
The current parking-system operation stems from a 2012 default by the city on Scranton Parking Authority debt, which led in 2016 to the city’s “monetization” of the system and bringing in an outside operator under a concession lease. The concessionaire formerly known as National Development Council is now called Grow America. The 2016 monetization also created a seven-member hybrid board, the nonprofit Community Development Properties Scranton, containing four members of Grow America and three city members — the mayor, the city council president and the city controller, or their designees — as the controlling entity underpinning the concession lease of the parking system.
City-affiliated garages in the parking system include the Linden, Casey, Connell and Medallion parking garages, and the Electric City and Marketplace at Steamtown parking garages owned by firms of businessman John Basalyga. Those two are operated under the city umbrella as city garages so Electric City and the Marketplace won’t compete with or undercut the city’s system.
Grow America in 2024 started using a firm called The Car Park to manage the system of garages, street-metered spaces with payment kiosks and enforcement personnel.
After monetization, the parking system was doing fairly well financially until it took a hit from the COVID-19 pandemic and lingering aftermath. The downturn resulted in the outside operators and city last year pursuing a bond restructuring and refinancing to avoid default.
A street parking payment kiosk in the 100 block of Adams Avenue in downtown Scranton on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
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A street parking payment kiosk in the 100 block of Adams Avenue in downtown Scranton on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
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Operations update
On Tuesday, Scranton City Council heard an update on the parking system’s operations and finances from Grow America Assistant Manager Jacob Ciulla. He gave a presentation to council during an informal caucus meeting, according to an Electric City Television simulcast and recording of the meeting posted online.
Some details from the parking caucus included:
• Financial performance in 2025: Parking system revenue $313,514 higher than budgeted and expenses $279,898 lower than budgeted resulted in net-operating income of $593,412 that was “better than budgeted.” The 2025 budget initially did not have information from the fourth quarter of 2024 to project, and “quarter four of 2024 was a great quarter for us; the (parking) volume was there,” Ciulla said.
• Expanded hours: Councilman Sean McAndrew asked how much new revenue came from the extra two hours of enforcement on weekdays. Ciulla did not have those figures but said he would provide them. Councilman Mark McAndrew asked if that revenue bump was substantial. Ciulla replied, “Yeah, it was quite a bit. The first little bit there was tickets and warnings and we’ve seen a decrease in tickets, violations, and people (are) paying for those two hours. So it’s hitting good.”
• Weekend street-parking study: A study on possibly charging for street parking on Saturdays in the future remains underway, Ciulla said. “We’re still in data collection,” and need to get information on timing and customer and business surveys, and “the goal is to present that to the city end of summer,” Ciulla said. Mark McAndrew asked if Grow America was meeting with downtown merchants regarding a weekend parking study. Ciulla said yes, that parking operators gave a presentation in November to the nonprofit Scranton Tomorrow, which leads downtown economic development efforts. “We walked through how the study was going to be conducted,” Ciulla said. “Obviously, a lot of the merchants are not in agreement with Saturday hours being charged. But it ended up being a good meeting where we were able to explain that this isn’t going to happen 100%. We’re just collecting the data, doing the study. And we were able to explain why a city may charge on the weekends and going through that process.”
• Flat rate in garages during big snowstorms: Councilman Patrick Flynn noted the parking garages offered a flat $6 rate for extended parking during recent snowstorm events. He heard from a motorist who parked in a garage for an hour, but was charged the full $6 rate, instead of the usual $1.25 per hour in a garage, up to 10 hours. Given that the city is contributing funding to the system, Flynn asked why not just “give free parking” in garages for the roughly 24 to 48 hours of storm events, to help get vehicles off the streets. Ciulla said the storm flat rate stems from the concession agreement and system operators get notified from the city administration when to put the flat rate into effect. “As for why it’s not free, I can’t answer that directly just because I was not involved in that negotiation,” Ciulla said, but he would look into it. Flynn said the motorist called Car Park about getting charged $6 for one hour of parking in a garage, and Car Park told her to call City Hall. “So that’s an issue that I think needs to be addressed in some capacity,” Flynn said. Cuilla replied, “There’s some ideas there that we could kick around with the board from an operational standpoint where, yeah, it’s $6 for your all-day max, but if you’re only there for an hour, why are you getting dinged for the six bucks.”
• Leases of commercial spaces in parking garages:
Vacancies available for leasing: the former Colosseum nightclub in the Medallion garage in the 100 block of Adams Avenue, which closed in late 2011; and the former Thai Thai restaurant, 309 N. Washington Ave. in the Linden garage, which closed more recently.
Renewals: Comics on the Green, 307 N. Washington Ave. in the Linden garage, renewed for another two years through 2027; Catch 21 restaurant, 301 N. Washington Ave. in the Linden garage, expires in March and is expected to renew for five years; and Moravia Health, 117 N. Washington Ave. in the Connell garage, expires in September and renewal discussions have not yet started.
Monday Update
THEN: Scranton’s parking system restructured debt in summer 2025 to avoid default.
NOW: Since then and so far in 2026, finances are steadier.
The Medallion Garage on Adams Ave. in downtown Scranton Thursday, June 26, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The Linden Garage in downtown Scranton Thursday, June 26, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The Casey Garage on Adams Ave. in downtown Scranton Thursday, June 26, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
A vehicle moves down the ramp in the Linden Garage on the corner of Linden St. and N. Washington Ave. in downtown Scranton Thursday, June 26, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The Electric City Parking Garage on Penn Avenue and The Marketplace at Steamtown on Lackawanna Avenue in downtown Scranton on Sept. 15, 2021. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
A street parking payment kiosk in the 100 block of Adams Avenue in downtown Scranton on Tuesday, July 15, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
A parking sign in downtown Scranton on Wednesday, July 9, 2025. (REBECCA PARTICKA/STAFF PHOTOGRPAHER)
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The Medallion Garage on Adams Ave. in downtown Scranton Thursday, June 26, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)