Developer on track to reuse former Luzerne County juvenile detention center

Plans are still in the works to transform the former Luzerne County juvenile detention center into offices and residential apartment units.

Local businessman Roy Castillo, who purchased the Wilkes-Barre property from the county last October, said he will start cleaning out the building’s interior this fall.

As that work is underway, Castillo said he will finish the final design for the three-story brick structure off North River Street, which overlooks the county prison.

Ideally, he will secure all necessary permits and start interior construction by January or February. Castillo estimates the project will take approximately two years to complete.

He also has to separate the center’s sewer line from one currently shared with the prison on Water Street. Castillo already completed design plans for that work.

The need for sewer line separation prompted a council majority to reduce Castillo’s purchase price from $50,000 to $30,000 nearly a year ago, in August. The sewer issue surfaced after council had voted to sell the property to Castillo in November 2020.

To proceed with the purchase, Castillo also had to complete a subdivision separating the detention center parcel from the prison one.

He ended up with a 1.89-acre parcel containing the center and an access driveway.

For real estate taxation purposes, the county assessed the property at $364,200 — $189,000 for the land and $175,200 for the structure, records show.

Castillo purchased the property through High Point Investment Co. LLC.

He has owned and operated the restaurant Margarita Azul in Wilkes-Barre for more than a decade. A GAR High School graduate, Castillo had told county officials he has extensive property restoration knowledge to put the neglected detention center property back into productive use.

“It will be very nice,” he said of the property last week. “I’m also adding a rooftop patio for tenants to use —something you don’t see much around here. That will add a lot.”

Mindful that the grounds are visible from River Street, Castillo said he already started removing bushes, weeds and litter.

Castillo also had assured council he would screen tenants to ensure there are no security concerns stemming from the building’s proximity to the prison.

Center history

The detention center has been vacant for more than two decades since the county stopped sending youths there in 2002.

Its roof was replaced in 2003, and the county spent $78,000 in 2017 to remove asbestos and bird droppings and board it up, although pigeons have since managed to get in.

It was constructed as a women’s prison in 1937.

Castillo’s project won’t mark the first time non-offenders reside in the facility. In 2012, Maryland resident Doris Perschau recalled memories of her family living in the detention center while her father, William B. Healey, was warden.

Her family lived there and previously at the prison because the county once provided an apartment with utilities inside the prison for the warden, which was common practice at that time. The warden’s spouse also worked in a paid position as the prison “matron,” primarily watching over female inmates.

Perschau’s father served as warden from 1930 to 1963.

Prior county commissioners and then council members had debated what to do with the structure for years after it closed.

A council majority had voted in 2016 to reject local businessman Jim Casey’s offer to buy the building for $20,000 to create a long-term residential program for women recovering from substance use disorder, in part due to concerns prison officials raised about rocks and balls — some packed with narcotics or tobacco — that had been thrown from the detention property to the prison yard below at times.

Councilwoman LeeAnn McDermott, who chairs council’s Real Estate Committee, pushed for a sale to return the property to the tax rolls and get it back into productive use. She toured the center in 2020 and had to don protective clothing.

McDermott said she expects the project will be successful due to a growing demand for rental units.

She also believes the project, as planned, will give other prospective developers ideas on ways to reuse unique, older structures.

“I’m very happy that he’s moving forward with this project,” McDermott said.