A local real estate developer and entrepreneur set his sights on rejuvenating a pair of properties on Business Route 6 in Dickson City.
Charles Hibble, broker/president of Hibble Harris Real Estate, purchased the former Cigarette Outlet property, 1610 Scranton Carbondale Highway., in February and began renovating the dilapidated building.
According to a deed filed Feb. 13 in Lackawanna County, Two Cat Realty LLC purchased the property from Dunmore Oil Co. Inc. for $150,000.
Hibble estimates investing roughly $150,000 for wide-scale improvements, including new heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and electrical systems. He added the parking lot will also be resurfaced in the coming weeks.
“I guess it’s been vacant for 10-plus years,” Hibble said. “The roof was leaking and there were plants growing inside – pretty much everything top to bottom was redone.”
A layout design of Charles Hibble’s planned transformation of the former D.C. Pet Center property, 1908 Scranton Carbondale Hwy., above, and a photo of the building taken in early May below. (Courtesy Charles Hibble)
Hibble noted a retail tenant is under contract for the property and will move into the 1.73-acre space by August or September.
Additionally, Hibble plans to purchase and renovate another nearby property — the former D.C. Pet Center building art 1908 Scranton Carbondale Highway. He anticipates closing on that building next month.
Among his other local projects, Hibble renovated the vacant W.H. Coon wholesale kitchen supply building at 329 Penn Ave. in Scranton into the Electric City Center, a commercial and residential development, in 2006.
While large chains have established a major presence down the road, near Commerce Boulevard, Hibble believes there is a lot of potential in the section he’s targeting.
“That area is the next area to grow because the traffic count is pretty massive, over 21,000 cars a day,” he said. “I’ve been doing projects for quite a long time throughout Scranton and now I’m venturing into Dickson City a little bit. It seems like there is a lot of growth happening right in that area. It’s sort of been dead for years in that area, but I think it’s really going to start to change.”
Dickson City Borough Manager Cesare Forconi said he appreciates seeing old properties being repurposed and reused.
“It’s great because it’s going to bring more jobs to town and give us a new look,” he said. “The area of Route 6 didn’t have a lot of action as you’re going down toward Blakely, everything was more down toward the Scranton side. It’s nice that they’ll be cleaning up the area, improving it and putting new businesses in there that will benefit the municipality.”