SCRANTON — The city plans to seek $6.2 million state grants for four streetscape projects and one bridge replacement.
Streetscape locations include the area of the iconic Penn Paper building made famous globally by its appearance in the opening credits of “The Office” sitcom, its neighboring gateway to Pine Brook area and a few blocks of North Washington and Adams avenues downtown. The bridge to get replaced is the Elm Street bridge over Stafford Meadow Brook in South Side.
Scranton City Council’s agenda for its weekly meeting Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall contains three resolutions from Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti’s administration for the city to apply for state Department of Community and Economic Development Multimodal Transportation grants for the projects.
Here’s a look at each one:
Penn Paper complex
A $1,118,905 grant on behalf of Illinois-based Envoy Solutions, which in 2022 acquired the Penn Paper business, would be used for the Penn Mifflin Development LLC streetscape improvements project.
The historic 1880s Pennsylvania Paper and Supply building at Penn Avenue and Vine Street is the last remnant of a locomotive manufacturer that once sprawled over several city blocks. Now, in that area where the downtown meets Pine Brook, the city eyes streetscape improvements in blocks of Penn and Mifflin avenues and Vine Street, between Mulberry and Olive streets, including additions of angled parking, bicycle lanes, streetscape enhancements and improved pedestrian crosswalks along Mifflin and Penn avenues and Vine Street, while maintaining two 10-foot vehicle travel lanes in each direction.
“These improvements will enhance safety, increase parking, strengthen bicycle and pedestrian connectivity, support redevelopment and improve access for businesses, visitors and surrounding properties,” this resolution says.
A DCED multimodal grant is similar in process to a state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant, in which the city sponsors and applies for a grant and the state requires a “match” of a certain portion of the amount contributed by a developer, city Business Administrator Eileen Cipriani said. In this case, Envoy Solutions would fund the 30% match contribution, the legislation says.
The Penn Paper business was started in 1922 by Jacob Fink. In the Envoy acquisition, Fink’s grandson, Doug Fink, remained as the local general manager and retained ownership of the property, according to Times-Tribune archives.
Long before “The Office,” the Penn Paper building made an indelible mark on Scranton and the nation as part of the once-sprawling Dickson Works locomotive manufacturing facility that dated to 1856 and that also made engines, boilers and other items over the years. Listed in 1979 on the National Register of Historic Places, the blocklong Penn Paper building is the last structure remaining from the Dickson Works complex. A cornerstone says “The Dickson Manufacturing Company, Organized 1856,” and “Machine Shop, Rebuilt A.D. 1882.”
In a 2023 article in The Times-Tribune about replacing bricks in the Penn Paper tower, Fink said the Penn Paper site may yet have another incarnation ahead as a place where people live. It was possible the paper operation might one day move to an industrial park for a modern, one-story distribution facility, and the Penn Paper buildings could be redeveloped into mixed residential and retail uses, Fink said.
Efforts on Tuesday to reach Fink were unsuccessful.
People walk past the Pennsylvania Paper and Supply Company on Penn Avenue in downtown Scranton Tuesday, July 21, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Parking spaces are seen outside of the Pennsylvania Paper and Supply Company on Vine Street in downtown Scranton Tuesday, July 21, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The Pennsylvania Paper and Supply Company building on Penn Avenue in downtown Scranton Tuesday, July 21, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
A pedestrian passes the Pennsylvania Paper and Supply Company building on Penn Avenue in downtown Scranton Tuesday, July 21, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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People walk past the Pennsylvania Paper and Supply Company on Penn Avenue in downtown Scranton Tuesday, July 21, 2026. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
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UNC grant
A $500,000 grant on behalf of United Neighborhood Community Development Corporation, an arm of United Neighborhood Centers of Northeastern Pennsylvania, would revitalize the “Gateway of Capouse Avenue,” including the 600 block of Capouse Avenue and its intersection with Olive Street.
This project would renovate sidewalks, install lighting, improve and update crosswalks, plant shrubbery and paint markings to clearly define vehicle parking. “This project aims to aid all residents, business owners, students and commuters by enhancing pedestrian walkability and providing adequate lighting, ultimately resulting in a safer community feel.”
UNCDC would provide this 30% match contribution.
The 500 block of Penn Avenue and the 600 block of Capouse Avenue line up directly across from each other at Olive Street, where a landmark rail bridge of the PA Northeast Regional Railroad Authority goes diagonally over the intersection, between the rears of the Penn Paper building and the D.G. Nicholas building fronting on 601 Wyoming Ave.
The intersection also is a busy one for pedestrians, including students walking to and from Scranton High School via Olive Street.
This UNC streetscape project also dovetails with the nonprofit organization’s plans to eventually transform the blighted gateway with a $22.5 million project to build 41 units of multifamily affordable housing on a 2-acre site on Capouse Avenue at Olive Street. This project calls for demolishing structures at a junkyard at 601 Capouse Ave. and constructing a pair of three-story buildings, parking lots, walkways and landscaping on the property.
UNC’s gateway development is part of a long-term revitalization plan underway in Pine Brook that has an overall goal of creating a stronger, more attractive neighborhood with buy-in from residents and businesses. Unveiled in 2021, UNC’s revitalization plan received in 2022 a state “Elm Street” designation for priority consideration for grants and other assistance.
601 Capouse Avenue in Scranton is seen near the intersection of Capouse Avenue and Olive Street Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Elm Street Bridge and streetscape
Also included is a $4.6 million grant encompassing three separate projects, including $3 million for the Elm Street bridge replacement and $1.6 million for North Washington and Adams avenues streetscape projects.
The bridge carrying East Elm Street over Stafford Meadow Brook at Hertz Court is closed because of its deteriorated condition. This project would replace the bridge and restore the road and sidewalks.
The North Washington/Adams avenues projects would take place on North Washington between Mulberry and Vine streets, and on Adams between Mulberry and Linden streets. This work calls for replacing outdated road and pedestrian lighting with new period-style lighting, underground wiring and associated road and sidewalk restorations.
The state waives the 30% match requirement for municipalities.