SCRANTON — A company recently took control of the former Scranton State School for the Deaf campus in Green Ridge after completing a lengthy foreclosure.
The firm, 1801 Jefferson LLC, last week began fixing leaky roofs on several of the old, architecturally distinctive stone buildings on the 8.56-acre property straddling Dunmore and Scranton, according to company and borough officials.
The company also cleared trees from the rear of the former school campus and is removing debris from buildings.
“We’re just cleaning it out and maintaining the property so it (deterioration) doesn’t get any worse,” Bob Burke of 1801 Jefferson LLC said Wednesday.
As for future plans for the campus, Burke said, “I would assume apartments, but we’re not there yet. Right now, we’re just trying to protect our investment up here.”
The foreclosure and renewed activity are the latest developments involving the campus that for more than a century had deaf students living and learning there.
A Pennsylvania state historical marker along North Washington Avenue in front of the campus commemorates the Rev. Jacob M. Koehler (1860-1932), founder in 1882 of the institute that would become the Scranton State School for the Deaf. “An ordained minister who was deaf, he was concerned for this state’s uneducated deaf children and was a leading advocate of compulsory education of the deaf,” according to the historical marker.
The state ceased operation of the Scranton State School for the Deaf in 2009. Marywood University acquired the property from the state in 2010-11 and called it Marywood South. But the university never used the campus and started trying to sell it in 2015.
From 2018-20, proposals for the property included Los Angeles developer Lance Robbins’ plan to convert the campus into an artists’ apartment complex; and a separate plan for an art school and retreat center by the Elysian Sanctuary. Neither panned out.
In 2021, Marywood sold the property to the nonprofit Jarett Yoder Foundation, a Berks County-based nonprofit veterans assistance organization. The Yoder Foundation’s goal was to use the campus as the Patriot Resource Center at Marywood, a facility to assist veterans and community first responders in need. To buy the site, the foundation borrowed from Marywood and the university held the mortgage. But the arrangement soon unraveled and resulted in a default. In 2022, Marywood assigned the mortgage to 1801 Jefferson LLC, which took Marywood out of the picture.
In 2023, 1801 Jefferson LLC began taking legal steps in Lackawanna County Court to foreclose. During those proceedings, the property was headed several times for sheriff’s sales but postponed repeatedly under continuing negotiations.
The foreclosure was recently completed and deed transfers should follow shortly, Burke said.
The Jarett Yoder Foundation also is now no longer involved with the campus, he said.
The campus has eight old and architecturally distinctive stone buildings on 6.66 acres in Dunmore and one newer brick building at 1800 N. Washington Ave. on 1.9 acres in Scranton. The building in Scranton was largely move-in ready when the foundation acquired the property, while the older buildings were in various states of decay.
The 1801 Jefferson LLC firm got permits from Dunmore last week for roofing work on the stone buildings, said Dunmore Zoning and Planning Coordinator Michael Brazil. The zoning of the buildings was changed in 2023 under the collaborative Scranton-Abingtons Planning Association from institutional to a city/neighborhood mixed use, he said.
Whether the firm would need zoning approval for future uses of the buildings would depend on what might get proposed, Brazil said, noting the company has not filed any zoning applications in Dunmore. Even if future uses comport with what’s allowed under zoning, the firm would still need permits for interior renovations, he said.
The company also has not filed any zoning application in Scranton regarding the building situated in the city, said city Planner Don King.
Residents have taken notice of recent activity at the formerly stagnant site and wonder what its future holds, said Green Ridge Neighborhood Association members Laura Agostini and Roberta Jadick. They view the work to prevent deterioration as a positive step.
“Now they’re actually doing work on it, so that’s a good thing,” said Agostini, who is association president.
A Pennsylvania state historical marker, shown here in 2018, commemorates the Rev. Jacob M. Koehler, founder of what would become the Scranton State School for the Deaf. The 8.56-acre campus straddles Scranton and Dunmore in Green Ridge. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Roofs get repairs at the campus of the former Scranton State School for the deaf in Green Ridge on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Roofs get repairs at the campus of the former Scranton State School for the deaf in Green Ridge on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Roofs get repairs at the campus of the former Scranton State School for the deaf in Green Ridge on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Roofs get repairs at the campus of the former Scranton State School for the deaf in Green Ridge on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Roofs get repairs at the campus of the former Scranton State School for the deaf in Green Ridge on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Roofs get repairs at the campus of the former Scranton State School for the deaf in Green Ridge on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Roofs get repairs at the campus of the former Scranton State School for the deaf in Green Ridge on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Roofs get repairs at the campus of the former Scranton State School for the deaf in Green Ridge on Tuesday, May 27, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)