Luzerne County may purchase Hanover Township property for $1.75 million

Luzerne County may purchase the American Red Cross Blood and Platelet Donation Center property on New Commerce Boulevard in Hanover Township for $1.75 million to house the county’s Emergency Management Agency, officials said.

The proposed acquisition is scheduled for discussion at Tuesday’s County Council work session.

County administrators pursued the property because it was recently listed for sale and is located across from the county 911 center and adjacent to the county record storage facility.

The 60,880-square-foot American Red Cross property is situated on a 7.4-acre parcel and listed for sale at $2.3 million, which equates to $37.78 per square foot, according to an online listing on LoopNet. Jones Lang LaSalle Americas Inc. was retained by the seller to arrange the sale, it said.

The American Red Cross plans to vacate the property at the close of sale, the listing said.

The American Red Cross of Greater Pennsylvania plans to relocate the blood and platelet donation center to Wilkes-Barre, less than five miles away, alongside other local Red Cross services, said Cristina Maisel, regional communications manager for the American Red Cross Greater Pennsylvania Region.

A timeline for the move has not been finalized, Maisel said. She emphasized blood donation currently “continues as usual” at the center on New Commerce Boulevard.

“We will share updates with blood donors as plans move forward,” Maisel said.

County Manager Romilda Crocamo told County Council in an email Friday she has submitted a letter of intent to buy the property, with the letter emphasizing council approval would be required for the transaction to proceed.

Because Tuesday’s work session is solely for discussion, council must publicly vote at a future meeting.

Payment for the building, anticipated to be due in May 2027, would be funded through “a combination of proceeds from the sale of county-owned properties, interest income, and contributions from community partners,” Crocamo said.

The plan was always to house 911 and EMA under the same roof or close together, Crocamo said.

Council voted in November 2023 to merge 911 and EMA in a new Emergency Services Department to improve safety and security, with the administration pointing out Luzerne County was only one of three counties in Pennsylvania that had separate 911 and EMA departments.

The 911 center provides police, fire, and emergency medical dispatching for 175 agencies throughout the county.

Housed in a county-owned command center near the county prison on Water Street in Wilkes-Barre, EMA must coordinate resources to prepare for, respond to, and recover from emergencies within the county, including floods and other weather-related disasters and a nuclear power plant disaster.

Crocamo said expanding the 911 center would be significantly more costly because it would require the purchase of additional land and construction of an addition.

“This acquisition presents a significant opportunity for our county, as it will result in a cost savings of over $10 million compared to constructing an addition to our existing 911 building to house EMA,” her email to council said. “Given the potential benefits, we believe that acting promptly is crucial in confirming our decision to move forward with this purchase.”

According to the letter of intent, the county would have to pay 10% of the purchase price upon execution of the sales agreement and completion of inspections and due diligence. The county would have to execute the sales agreement on or before June 14 and then have 100 days from that date to conduct financial, legal, operational, environmental, and other due diligence.

The parties shall use “commercially reasonable efforts” to close on the purchase on or before June 1, 2027, it said.

County records indicate the property is assessed at $8.3 million for real estate taxation purposes.

County 911 moved into the newly constructed Young Street communications center at the end of 1997, according to past reports.

The county had purchased and renovated a former U.S. mail property on Young Street to house county records, the coroner’s office, and a morgue. A grand opening was held in September 2018. A state archive expert had urged county officials to pursue a climate-controlled option, saying the county’s leased space in a downtown Wilkes-Barre structure was damaging to records that must be retained, including original documents dating to the late 1800s.

Tuesday’s council work session follows a 6 p.m. voting meeting at the county courthouse on River Street in Wilkes-Barre. Instructions for the remote attendance option will be posted on council’s online public meeting section at luzernecounty.org.