Basalyga buys building in Scranton next to former Coney Island Lunch
SCRANTON — Developer John Basalyga bought the vacant, former Scranton Hobby Center building downtown at 517 Lackawanna Ave., which adjoins the former Coney Island Lunch building that he bought last year and that recently had the front wall collapse.
Basalyga also previously purchased the vacant lot at 513 Lackawanna Ave., next to the Coney Island Lunch building. He plans to renovate the three-story Coney Island Lunch building, reopen the hot dog shop on the first floor and put five apartments on the upper floors. He also plans to incorporate the vacant lot at 513 Lackawanna Ave. into the Coney Island Lunch project as an outdoor aspect offering ice cream and more.
Developer John Basalyga has purchased 517 Lackawanna Ave. in Scranton. The building is next door to the former Coney Island Lunch that Basalyga previously purchased.
Those plans remain ongoing but got delayed Dec. 30, when the front wall of the Coney Island Lunch building collapsed during interior renovations.
'Coney Island looks a lot worse than it is,' Basalyga said Thursday about the condition of the boarded-up structure. 'The building is savable. I had every intention of saving it. The apartments are all framed out.'
On May 16, a Basalyga company bought the three-story former hobby shop building for $375,000 from a firm of former Mayor Wayne Evans. Basalyga plans to renovate that structure, put five apartments on the upper floors and return a retail store of some sort to the first floor, possibly a boutique shop or a men's clothing store.
Basalyga now plans to do the projects for 513, 515 and 517 Lackawanna Ave. all at once. He hopes to get underway soon and have Coney Island Lunch reopen later this year.
Evans bought the building at 517 Lackawanna Ave. in 2018. He planned to renovate the second floor and part of the third floor into a residence for himself and his wife, and put an architect's office on the first floor, he said Thursday. But that goal got delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic's economic disruptions to supply chains and costs, he said.
'When COVID hit, it just changed everything,' Evans said. 'For what we wanted to do, it just became cost-prohibitive. The numbers weren't working for what we were looking to do.'
The hobby shop closed and vacated in 2021.
In December 2023, Basalyga's JBAS Realty purchased the Coney Island Lunch property from C.I.L. Associates and Pete and Bob Ventura for $300,000. Basalyga also acquired the adjacent vacant lot and outer western wall attached to the Coney Island Lunch building from the Scranton Redevelopment Authority for $32,500.
The Venturas, who ran the restaurant for nearly 50 years and had been involved much longer, decided to retire and closed the landmark shop in December 2023. Their grandfather, Steve Karampilas, launched the business on Cedar Avenue in 1923, and their stepfather John Karampilas moved the eatery to 515 Lackawanna Ave. in 1988.
The vacant lot at 513 Lackawanna Ave., the former Coney Island Lunch building at 515 Lackawanna Ave., and the former Scranton Hobby Center building at 517 Lackawanna Ave. in Scranton, shown here in November of 2020. The three properties are now owned by developer John Basalyga, who plans to renovate the properties. (IMAGE COPIED / GOOGLE STREET VIEW)
Basalyga embarked on his plans for a Coney Island Lunch reboot of the restaurant, with apartments above and an exterior overhaul, and with a one-story ice cream stand next to the Texas wiener shop. Concepts for the vacant lot also called for picnic tables and possibly kiddie rides and live music.
After the wall collapse at 515 Lackawanna Ave., Basalyga said Evans asked him if he had any interest in perhaps buying 517 Lackawanna Ave. He did.
Evans said, 'When the facade fell off, that gave me a little pause' in his own plans for 517 Lackawanna Ave. Describing those plans as 'a labor of love,' Evans decided to sell the building to Basalyga, confident that Basalyga would do a good job there.
Part of the building that housed Coney Island Lunch on Lackawanna Avenue in Scranton, being renovated by developer John Basalyga, collapsed. (JIM LOCKWOOD/STAFF PHOTO)
'To me, it's more important to get it properly developed and make it something greater than what it is,' Evans said. 'We just felt that this was going to be in good hands. I knew he would do a great job.'
Evans continued: 'At the end of the day, circumstances changed and we felt this was a good fit all the way around. No matter what he (Basalyga) does, I know he's going to do a great job and that was important to me.'
A retail store returning to the first floor of 517 Lackawanna Ave. also would be a more appropriate use for the space than an office, Evans said.
'With these storefronts, it's really important to have retail if you can. Retail drives foot traffic and that drives more people downtown,' Evans said.
Basalyga, who has redeveloped numerous properties downtown, said, 'My goal is to fill the buildings and bring people downtown.'
Evans also noted other projects underway nearby bode well for that area of the downtown. Those include: Warney Cellar and Tap wineroom going into the space of the former Adezzo coffee shop in the 1925 Casey Laundry Building at 515 Center St., which is the alley behind the 500 block of Lackawanna Avenue; and the owners of the Alter House restaurant near Clarks Summit, doing business as Alter Bar, planning to open a restaurant in the building at 116 N. Washington Ave. at Center Street.
The 500 block of Lackawanna Avenue already has seen an uptick in visitors because of the Scranton Tomorrow Mural Arts Program's larger-than-life mural titled 'The Office: The Story of Us' on the eastern wall of the building at 503 Lackawanna Ave. That mural featuring characters and motifs from the beloved 'The Office' sitcom faces the side wall of the Coney Island Lunch building.
'That's going to really be a great location for the downtown overall,' Evans said.
the Scranton Tomorrow Mural Arts Program's larger-than-life mural titled 'The Office: The Story of Us' on the eastern wall of the building at 503 Lackawanna Ave., on Oct. 7, 2023. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)
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Developer John Basalyga has purchased 517 Lackawanna Ave. in Scranton. The building is next door to the former Coney Island Lunch that Basalyga previously purchased.
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The vacant lot at 513 Lackawanna Ave., the former Coney Island Lunch building at 515 Lackawanna Ave., and the former Scranton Hobby Center building at 517 Lackawanna Ave. in Scranton, shown here in November of 2020. The three properties are now owned by developer John Basalyga, who plans to renovate the properties. (IMAGE COPIED / GOOGLE STREET VIEW)
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Developer John Basalyga has purchased 517 Lackawanna Ave. in Scranton. The building is next door to the former Coney Island Lunch that Basalyga previously purchased.
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Developer John Basalyga has purchased 517 Lackawanna Ave. in Scranton. The building is next door to the former Coney Island Lunch that Basalyga previously purchased.
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Developer John Basalyga has purchased 517 Lackawanna Ave. in Scranton. The building is next door to the former Coney Island Lunch that Basalyga previously purchased.
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