A Missouri real estate firm spent $17.5 million this month to buy land for a nearly 1.2-million-square-foot warehouse in the proposed Triboro Industrial Park in Olyphant.
The St. Louis-based Sansone Group, operating as Ercor Triboro LLC, purchased one of four lots from Triboro Industrial Park LLC, amounting to 143.24 acres of the nearly 562-acre development, according to a property transaction recorded Wednesday. Charles DeNaples, the son of Keystone Sanitary Landfill co-owner Dominick DeNaples, signed an accompanying easement agreement as the managing member of Triboro Industrial Park LLC, 1210 Wheeler Ave., Dunmore.
Sansone is the first company to buy land in the Triboro Industrial Park.
According to a Cushman & Wakefield marketing brochure for the site, the Triboro Industrial Park advertises more than 4.5 million square feet of industrial space across four proposed buildings on a swath of land in the middle of Route 247, the Casey Highway and Marshwood Road. The sites are located just south of the former Dolph Coal Co.’s Hannah Bell Slope Mine, which was the site of a mine fire burning beneath Olyphant that was finally extinguished last year. Sansone Group purchased Lot 2, which has plans for a 1,184,000-square-foot building.
Sansone describes itself on its website as a national commercial real estate firm specializing in development, facility management and brokerage services in commercial and residential sectors.
Attempts to reach Sansone Group were not immediately successful.
An aerial view of land slated for an industrial park in Olyphant on Thursday, June 19, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
An aerial view of land slated for an industrial park in Olyphant on Thursday, June 19, 2025. (SEAN MCKEAG / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)
The plan is to use the buildings for warehousing, council President Jimmy Baldan said. There will be a road from Marshwood Road connecting to Sansone’s property, he said.
“There’s going to be a lot of earth to move up there, but the project is now here,” he said. “It’s going to get underway.”
Olyphant does not have a timeline for the project, he said.
Baldan hopes Sansone’s investment will prompt additional developers to move into the industrial park.
“Once you put the first blade in the ground, that’s what starts the momentum for the development of that whole mountain,” he said.
He noted that the industrial park will benefit residents without being intrusive due to its location.
“It’s away from the residents,” Baldan said. “This is a unique situation, and it’s a win for all of us.”
Plans for the industrial park date back to at least 2019 when a company representative approached Olyphant seeking a tax break to build an industrial park on the land. In response, Olyphant council, the Mid Valley School Board and Lackawanna County commissioners approved a 10-year tax abatement term for the Triboro property, applying Local Economic Revitalization Tax Assistance status to 964 acres of the deteriorated, undeveloped land. Once the warehouses are built, the landowners will only pay 5% of taxes on improvements to the property for the first year, increasing by 5% in subsequent years. During the 10th and final year of the LERTA, property owners will pay 50% of the value of the improvements before paying full taxes the following year.
Baldan lauded the tax revenue the project will bring in not just for Olyphant but also the Mid Valley School District and Lackawanna County.
“It not only brings in new jobs, it attracts investment,” he said. “This is great for our residents, great for Lackawanna County.”
Baldan credited state Sen. Marty Flynn, D-22, Dunmore, for helping the borough secure $3 million for the project through the state’s Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, or RACP. The $3 million was earmarked for the first phase of work, focusing on the eastern portion, including earthwork/excavation, clearing, utility relocation, mine mitigation, erosion, sedimentation controls and stormwater pond preparation, according to an April 2022 news release from Flynn.
Baldan believes the industrial park will position the borough to keep energy costs and property taxes down. Unlike most municipalities, Olyphant operates its own electrical company.
“This project will help create jobs, attract investment and strengthen our local economy,” Baldan said. “We look forward to working closely with the new developers to finalize the next steps and ensure the project is completed efficiently.”
Factoring in the growing prevalence of automation in warehouses, a 1-million-square-foot facility employs, on average, 250 people, said John Augustine, president and CEO of Penn’s Northeast, a Pittston-based collective aiming to promote new investments, jobs and business opportunities by promoting Northeast Pennsylvania. Citing newly calculated figures, Augustine said the average starting wage in the warehouse distribution sector is $19.75 per hour with benefits in Northeast Pennsylvania.
“When you looked at it about five years ago, that average starting wage was around $12 an hour,” he said. “The competition has increased these positions.”
Augustine was not aware of any other Sansone Group projects in Northeast Pennsylvania, making this likely the firm’s first venture into the region.
“Anytime that you have somebody new enter the market, it shows that this is an area where people and companies want to be,” Augstine said.