Hanover Township, Luzerne County, PA -
After decades of dormancy, the former Ashley Yards site may be redeveloped.
Located behind the tract where the Huber Breaker once stood, Ashley Yards had bustled with rail activity when coal mining thrived.
The train facility's signalmen, watchmen, yardmen and clerks worked their last day at the site in March 1972, when the Central Railroad of New Jersey abandoned its Pennsylvania division as part of a bankruptcy, according to a news report at the time.
The Luzerne County Redevelopment Authority, which currently owns Ashley Yards, has reached a tentative agreement to sell approximately 77.22 acres to Ashley Complex LLC for $377,852.53, the authority said.
Records show Ashley Complex LLC is affiliated with Valley Distributing & Storage Co., which provides warehousing space and transportation for a broad range of industries. The company operates 2 million square feet of space at sites in Laflin, Scranton and the former Biscontini warehouse building on Wilkes-Barre Boulevard in Wilkes-Barre, a company representative said.
Valley Distributing plans to make the Ashley site its fourth facility and take advantage of the property's access to the authority's rail line, the representative said, noting further details would be provided when a final sale is approved.
Ashley Complex LLC's purchase offer met the authority's appraised value for the property, the authority board has said.
As part of the purchase, the buyer must remediate environmental issues at the former rail yard, officials said.
The authority also agreed earlier this month to accept Ashley borough's offer to buy around 2.23 acres at the Ashley Yards site for $11,142.27 in addition to reimbursement of legal, administrative, appraisal and/or survey fees. Any environmental issues on this portion of land also must be addressed by the borough, the authority said.
Authority Executive Director Andrew Reilly said the borough indicated it wanted the 2.23 acres for a proposed trail project and additional parking to benefit local businesses.
Failed attempts
The authority had unsuccessfully tried to seek developers for the Ashley Yards property since the authority acquired it in 1996, Reilly said.
A flurry of recent distribution center development in nearby Hanover Township and Nanticoke has made the Ashley location more attractive, authority officials have said.
“We're certainly excited about the development on this site, and to increase rail business with that site is also a positive for the authority,” Reilly said, referring to the authority's 55-mile rail line.
Records indicate the Ashley Yards site has both soil and groundwater contamination due to historic rail yard operations and locomotive repair and maintenance facilities once housed there, said Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) spokeswoman Colleen Connolly.
Reilly said both buyers are working with DEP on a remediation plan, stressing the authority will not be involved in funding or completing any environmental work.
“That's why the agreement is tentative at this point, because we have to make sure any remediation work is passed on to the buyers,” Reilly said, noting final survey work also must be completed.
Authority representatives have estimated Ashley Complex LLC likely will end up spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on the environmental work and leveling the site to accommodate a structure.
The authority had completed a baseline environmental study years ago but did not proceed with remediation work because officials feared the authority would not attract a buyer to recoup the investment, Reilly said.
The Ashley Yards property is accessed by a road shared with the nonprofit Earth Conservancy.
Huber property
In a separate matter unrelated to the authority, the adjacent former Huber Breaker property, which falls in both Ashley and Hanover Township, was not listed in last week's county free-and-clear delinquent tax auction because the tax-claim office wanted more time to verify all lien holders had been sufficiently notified, officials said.
Instead, the property is slated for auction at the August sale, officials said.
Philadelphia-based Paselo Logistics LLC owns the property, which includes a 14.5-acre Ashley tract carrying $139,771 in delinquent taxes dating to 2014 and a 6.7-acre Hanover Township parcel with $16,527 in back taxes for the same period, records show.
Because the site remains in violation of DEP and court environmental cleanup orders, $150,000 from any sale must be placed in escrow to address remediation, officials have said.
If the properties had been listed for auction last week, bids would have started at $6,595 for the Ashley property and $3,713 for the Hanover Township one.
