SCRANTON — A co-owner of the former Chick’s Diner and adjacent vacant gas station and active rental home in South Side is suing his longtime business partner to partition the properties to get them sold.

Co-owners Ronald Chickillo and James Swanick cannot agree upon the disposition of their ¾-acre property that includes the former Citgo gas station at 1036 Moosic St. at Meadow Avenue, Chick’s Diner at 1032 Moosic St. and an apartment building at 1024 Moosic St. next to the diner parking lot, according to a lawsuit filed Oct. 16 in Lackawanna County Court by Chickillo against Swanick.

Their fathers, Vincent Chickillo and James Walter Swanick, opened a Chick’s Diner in 1946, but it burned and reopened in 1951. A throwback to vintage Americana diners, Chick’s built a solid reputation over the years at the top of Moosic Street, which is also Route 307. Before Interstate 81 was built about 800 feet east from Chick’s, Route 307 was a main route from Scranton to the Poconos, New Jersey and New York City. Chick’s became a popular spot on the heavily traveled Moosic Street/Route 307. In its heyday, the 24/7 diner employed 30-35 workers at a time. The sons took over Chick’s in 1980 and later bought the rental home and gas station. Over the years, Chick’s was a mainstay for longtime employees and loyal patrons, and was often visited by candidates running for office.

But the gas station, beset by stormwater flooding problems that impacted underground gas tanks, closed in 2017, and the diner closed in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and never reopened.

In an interview with The Times-Tribune in November of 2023, Chickillo and Swanick spoke about wanting to sell the defunct diner and gas station and active apartment building for an undetermined price.

At that time, the newspaper interviewed them about their plans for their properties because the city had recently approved a Wawa for a site along Moosic Street and Meadow Avenue, near the Citgo/Chick’s corner. The partners were hoping that a Wawa coming nearby would make their property more attractive to prospective buyers.

But Chickillo and Swanick, who are equal partners in their Moosic Street properties, have since been deadlocked over what to do with them, according to the lawsuit prepared by attorney Geff Blake of the Blake and Walsh law firm in Scranton representing Chickillo.

The former Chick’s Diner building sits vacant between a Citgo gas station and residence on Moosic St. in Scranton Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

The lawsuit seeks to have the partnership dissolved and the properties separated so they can be sold. Some of the lawsuit’s details include:

• Chickillo, of East Mountain, and Swanick, of Hawley, are joint owners of Chick’s Service Station Inc. and general partners in Chick’s Diner, but they never executed any partnership agreement pertaining to the diner.

• They bought the diner in 1986, the apartment building in 1987 and the gas station in 1997.

• Swanick collects the rent generated by the house and uses that revenue to pay the property taxes and expenses related to the house, diner and gas station.

• The partners are deadlocked on a sale or other disposition of each of the properties.

• The “economic purpose” of the partnership is longer feasible or practical and the stalemate “threatens irreparable injury to the service station.”

• The partnership does not prohibit partitioning.

The lawsuit seeks appointment of a trustee or special master to oversee partitioning of the diner, gas station and apartment building for their public or private sales and division of the proceeds, as well as an accounting of all income, expenses and liabilities of the properties during the period of co-ownership.

The lawsuit also lists Chickillo’s wife, Marina, as a co-plaintiff; and also names as co-defendants Swanick’s wife, Carol, and Chick’s Service Station Inc. of Scranton. The wives have marital interests in the disposition of the properties, the lawsuit says.

Reached by phone Wednesday, the Swanicks declined to immediately comment on the lawsuit that they just learned of that day.

Meanwhile, the Wawa plan calls for construction of a 6,049-square-foot Wawa off Moosic Street on a 5-acre site at 1130-36 Moosic St. and 117 Meadow Ave., as well as construction of a 17,746-square-foot Aldi grocery store on the rear portion of the property, off Meadow Avenue. Last November, the Wawa developer demolished a vacant building that years ago was a Profera’s Pizza and later Electric City Hot Yoga. Soil remediation at the site followed. The lot appears to have since been mostly cleared and now has some newly installed curbs and light poles.

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A closed service station next to Chick’s Diner at Meadow Avenue and Moosic Street in Scranton is seen on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023.

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Auditor General candidate Joe Peters, center, shakes hands with Muriel and John Gallo, from Fleetville, at Chick’s Diner in Scranton on Oct. 26, 2004. Peters’ father, former Scranton Mayor Gene Peters, is at right. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)

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Auditor General candidate Joe Peters, right, talks to Robert Jensen, left and Bruce Harvey, both from Scranton, at Chick’s Diner in Scranton on Oct. 26, 2004. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)

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Gail Kakareka, a waitress at Chick’s Diner in Scranton, hustles with coffees during a Friday night dinner rush in Dec. of 1998, photographed here for an article about a false rumor that the diner was going to be closed and sold. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)

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U.S. SeN. Bob Casey makes a brief stop inside Chick’s Diner on Moosic Street in South Scranton for some last minute campaigning on Election Day, Nov. 6, 2012. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)

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U.S. Senator Bob Casey shakes hands with Thomas Ashman, 78, of Scranton, a Korean War veteran on Election Day, Nov. 6, 2012, at Chick’s Diner in South Scranton. In background is Pat Tobin of Scranton a Vietnam veteran. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)

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U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. greets patrons at Chick’s Diner in South Scranton on Election Day, Nov. 6, 2012. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)

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Debbie Angelo of Scranton, who has been a waitress at Chick’s Diner in Scranton for 22 years, waves goodbye to a customer while dressed as a nun for Halloween in 2002. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)

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Debbie Angelo of Scranton, who has been a waitress at Chick’s Diner in Scranton for 22 years, dressed as a nun for Halloween in 2002 and shares a laugh with longtime customer Gus Genello of Scranton. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)

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Eggs are prepared in a skillet at Chick’s Diner in Scranton on July 5, 2015. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)

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Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Lynn Swann jokes about offering to take orders behind the counter at Chick’s Diner in Scranton on Nov. 1, 2006, as Russ Roberts of Scranton sits at the counter. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)

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John Croom, of Gouldsboro, a regular at Chick’s Diner in Scranton, was photographed here in Feb. of 2007 for an article about a smoking ban in restaurants in Scranton. Sitting next to Croom is Ken Jones, of Wilkes-Barre. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)

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A closed service station next to Chick’s Diner at Meadow Avenue and Moosic Street in Scranton is seen on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023.

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