Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton plans to construct a building with parking for additional clinical services on the vacant, former Audubon school lot across Mulberry Street and connect it to the hospital with a bridge over the road, Nicholas Coleman, associate vice president of clinical operations of Geisinger’s Northeast Region, said Tuesday.
Such a new structure on the even side of the 400 block of Colfax Avenue would be well below a 100-foot-tall structure that neighbors strongly opposed in 2023, but taller than the 45-foot height limit that current zoning allows, Coleman said in a phone interview with The Times-Tribune.
His comments come as Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti’s proposed zoning change for Geisinger-owned land in the 200 and 400 blocks of Colfax Avenue to accommodate GCMC expansion plans remains pending before Scranton City Council.
The rezoning would change Geisinger-owned property on the odd-side of the 200 block of Colfax Avenue and the even side of the 400 block of Colfax Avenue that includes the site of the former John J. Audubon Elementary School, from institutional to civic zone. The institutional zone has the 45-foot height limit imposed by council in 2023, while a civic zone has a 100 foot limit.
On Thursday, council voted 4-1 — with council President Gerald Smurl, Bill King, Mark McAndrew and Jessica Rothchild voting yes, and Tom Schuster casting the lone dissent — to introduce the rezoning ordinance. Also at Thursday’s meeting, McAndrew called the mayor’s rezoning a “rush job” before a council with two new members takes over in January. Council passed a McAndrew motion to ask Geisinger to come before council and explain its expansion plans.
The rezoning legislation is on council’s agenda for a second vote on advancement at council’s meeting Tuesday, Nov. 18, at 6:30 p.m., when Coleman expects to speak during public comment about the GCMC plans.
After the 2023 zoning battle effectively curbed GCMC plans for the 200 and 400 blocks of Colfax Avenue, Geisinger instead focused on expanding within the current hospital footprint — but now there is no more room, Coleman said.
“What we have done over the past 18 months or so was really expand within the four walls of the hospital and at this point we’re maxed out. We don’t have any additional space in the current structure,” Coleman said. “What we’re looking to do is get the zoning changed so we can began to build plans around what we’re allowed to do. We just need to understand what the guide rails are, knowing that 45 feet just isn’t going to get us there, but 100 is too much. And I think we agree that this structure will be well below the 100-foot mark, whatever it may be. We’re just not certain what that actually looks like yet.”
Geisinger’s top priority for GCMC is expanding clinical services to the campus, including additional procedural locations and inpatient beds, and getting closer to having private rooms instead of the current shared rooms, he said.
“The plan we are looking to propose would add clinical services across the street on the Audubon lot and it would be accompanied with additional parking needs,” Coleman said. “We need to make sure that our patients are safe, their experience is great and allowing closer, adequate parking is part of that.” He envisions that building on the former Audubon lot also would require a bridge over Mulberry Street.
The height of structures was at the crux of a contentious zoning battle in 2022 and 2023 that stymied Geisinger’s previous expansion plans for GCMC. At that time, Hill Section neighbors were wary of an expansion project’s potential impact on their neighborhood and quality of life. The neighbors prevailed when council in April 2023 amended Scranton’s then-proposed new zoning ordinance and map to change the odd side of Colfax Avenue’s 200 block from a civic zone to institutional, which effectively restricted the height of a new parking garage Geisinger had planned for the odd side of the 200 block. Geisinger had described such a garage as an enabling project that would have allowed for the creation of more clinical space, and the broader GCMC expansion never materialized.
Now, Geisinger’s plans for the odd side of the 200 block of Colfax remain undetermined, Coleman said.
“The current zoning of 45 feet won’t allow us to expand enough to meet the needs of the community, but the neighbors in the community felt strongly that the previous plans that were done at the 100 foot mark for a parking structure and an additional structure for clinical services was too high,” Coleman said.
Geisinger also met with residents twice in the past month to hear their concerns and issues, some of which have included lighting and traffic flow, Coleman said.
“This would be a multi-year project. Even if zoning gets approved, we would have to obviously work through the other processes that are required to get a building or project of this size moving,” Coleman said. “It’s also important that we’ve committed to be good neighbors in our community, so we would look to have our neighbors part of the process as we develop this and as we roll out some of the thought process around it.”
The zoning change proposal also comes less than three weeks after Tenor Health Foundation agreed to acquire Commonwealth Health’s hospitals in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, as well as associated clinics and outpatient centers. The acquisition includes Regional and Moses Taylor hospitals in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre General Hospital. The transaction is subject to regulatory review and contingent on the nonprofit Tenor finalizing its funding. Once funding is secured, that transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the year. A prior sale of the Commonwealth facilities to a different nonprofit, WoodBridge Healthcare, fell through a year ago when WoodBridge failed to secure bond financing to complete the acquisition.
Coleman said Geisinger is rooting for the Tenor agreement to succeed.
“Let me be very clear — we hope Tenor is successful. We want to have a partner in Scranton to take care of the community, but what we’ve realized is nothing is done until it’s done,” Coleman said of a Tenor agreement getting finalized. “So we’re working every angle possible to make sure we can take quality care of the patients, not only in Scranton but in the greater northeast region.”
Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023.
Geisinger Community Medical Center on Mulberry St. in Scranton Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
Geisinger Community Medical Center on Mulberry St. in Scranton Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
An empty lot sits across the street from the Geisinger Community Medical Center on Mulberry St. in Scranton Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
A map showing existing zoning in the area of Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton, and proposed changes to Geisinger-owned properties in the 200 and 400 blocks of Colfax Avenue. (IMAGE POSTED IN SCRANTON CITY COUNCIL AGENDA)
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Geisinger Community Medical Center in Scranton on Wednesday, Aug. 2, 2023.