2023/06/20 LCFPA agreed to DHS (Updated 2025/02/18)
LCFPA Records
By Eric Mark | emark@citizensvoice.com | The Citizens' Voice
UPDATED: June 20, 2023 at 6:00 PM EDT
FORTY FORT – The Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority has agreed in principle to rent space at its headquarters to the Department of Homeland Security.
The authority board voted unanimously on Tuesday to lease 1,778 square feet of office space to Homeland Security Investigations’ suboffice in Scranton.
The five-year lease, at $22 per square foot or about $3,250 per month, will not be finalized until it is reviewed by authority solicitor Christopher Slusser and approved by Homeland Security officials, authority Chairman Dominic Yannuzzi said.
The authority has searched for a tenant to rent unused office space at its headquarters and command center since it moved to the building, off Wyoming Avenue next to Wyoming Valley Airport in Forty Fort, last year.
Homeland Security officials recently approached the authority about leasing the space, near the back of the building facing the airport, Yannuzzi said.
Plans call for 12 work station cubicles and 20 parking spaces reserved for Homeland Security employees and officials, he said. The only shared common space in the building would be the restrooms and the building’s back entrance would be primarily for the use of Homeland Security.
The authority board also approved a “retrofit” of the office space to meet Homeland Security’s needs.
The authority will put the project out to bid, and if the low bid comes in within a budgeted amount of $100,000, Executive Director Christopher Belleman will be authorized to approve the work without further board action, Yannuzzi said.
The renovations should take about three weeks, he said. Both sides want to complete the deal as soon as possible, so Homeland Security personnel might occupy the office space by the end of July if all goes as planned, Yannuzzi said.
“We are close,” he said. “Hopefully by next meeting (July 18) we can report we have a signed lease.”
Yannuzzi said he is not sure if Homeland Security plans to expand its operations or if it decided to end the lease on its Scranton suboffice.
Originally Published: June 20, 2023 at 2:00 PM EDT
By Eric Mark | emark@citizensvoice.com | The Citizens' Voice
PUBLISHED: February 18, 2025 at 3:42 PM EST
FORTY FORT — The Department of Homeland Security will likely move into office space at the Luzerne County Flood Protection Authority’s headquarters by this fall, authority Chairman Dominic Yannuzzi said Tuesday.
The authority executed a lease agreement with DHS to rent space at the authority’s Forty Fort office last October, after more than a year of negotiation.
The lease will took effect when DHS occupies the space, which will require extensive renovations, Yannuzzi said previously.
Contracts for the renovation work will be advertised for bids in March, Yannuzzi said at Tuesday’s meeting of the authority board. Once the board approves the contracts, it will take several months to complete the work, he said. If all goes well, Homeland Security could move into the leased office space shortly after Labor Day.
According to previous reports, the lease calls for the authority to lease 1,929 square feet of space at its headquarters to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement – a part of DHS – for $28,935 in total annual rent the first year. The rent will increase 3% annually.
The cost of the renovation projects will be reimbursed in full by DHS.
The agreement between the authority and DHS took a long time to cobble together.
In June 2023, the authority board agreed in principle to rent space at its headquarters — off Wyoming Avenue near Wyoming Valley Airport — to Homeland Security Investigations’ suboffice in Scranton.
By the time DHS moves into the space later this year, more than two years will have elapsed since the board gave its approval.