Scranton expects to complete next week its $1.88 million purchase of the building next to City Hall for a municipal annex.
Scranton City Council on Tuesday approved legislation from Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti to assemble $1 million from various city funds to pay for the purchase of the former Fidelity Bank branch at 334-346 N. Washington Ave.
City Business Administrator Eileen Cipriani said Friday that a closing would be held next week.
“We are working with the bank to schedule the time,” she said.
The city plans to move into the annex first floor some departments in City Hall that regularly interact with the public, including treasury and inspections/code enforcement. A “Real Time Crime Center” of the Police Department would occupy the second floor. The city does not currently need the third-floor space and plans to rent that floor out to raise revenue.
A prior council authorized the purchase in December in a 3-2 vote, with Tom Schuster and Mark McAndrew voting no, and Jessica Rothchild and former members Gerald Smurl and Bill King voting yes. At the time, Councilman-elect Sean McAndrew spoke out against the purchase.
The city then executed a contract and paid a 10% deposit.
Sean McAndrew and Patrick Flynn joined council in January, replacing Smurl and King.
When the funding legislation came before council in June and July, Schuster, Flynn and the McAndrews expressed reservations, questioning the purchase approval in December by a lame-duck council, and whether an annex is needed and if the city could afford it.
But as the contract had been executed, backing out now would cost the city its $188,000 deposit and potentially expose the city to getting sued.
Council voted 4-1 on the introduction and advancement of the funding ordinance, with Sean McAndrew casting the lone dissent both times.
On Tuesday, council voted 3-1 to adopt the ordinance, again with Sean McAndrew dissenting. Mark McAndrew was absent Tuesday.
Fidelity Bank recently vacated the branch as part of its conversion of the Scranton Electric Building at 507 Linden St. into the bank’s new headquarters.
The lobby of the former Fidelity Bank branch at 334-346 N. Washington Ave. in downtown Scranton, which the city is buying for a municipal annex next door to the historic 1888 City Hall at 340 N. Washington Ave.; with photo taken Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
The former Fidelity Bank branch at 334-346 N. Washington Ave. in downtown Scranton, which the city is buying for a municipal annex next door to the historic 1888 City Hall at 340 N. Washington Ave., with the branch shown here on Tuesday, July 7, 2026, already having the Fidelity name off of the facade. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
An office in the former Fidelity Bank branch at 334-346 N. Washington Ave. in downtown Scranton, which the city is buying for a municipal annex next door to the historic 1888 City Hall at 340 N. Washington Ave., a wall of which is visible through the window, shown here on Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
The lobby of the former Fidelity Bank branch at 334-346 N. Washington Ave. in downtown Scranton, which the city is buying for a municipal annex next door to the historic 1888 City Hall at 340 N. Washington Ave., with photo taken Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
The first floor lobby in the former Fidelity Bank building on N. Washington Ave. in downtown Scranton Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The outside of the Fidelity Bank building on N. Washington Ave. in downtown Scranton Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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The lobby of the former Fidelity Bank branch at 334-346 N. Washington Ave. in downtown Scranton, which the city is buying for a municipal annex next door to the historic 1888 City Hall at 340 N. Washington Ave.; with photo taken Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)