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<p>It appears the former Murray complex along South Pennsylvania Avenue in Wilkes-Barre will not be the site of a new school or an extravagant retail center &#8212; the site has been selected as the new home of the Luzerne County Transportation Authority.</p><p>According to Norm Gavlick, LCTA executive director, a joint project with PennDOT will soon see the development of the long-neglected 14-acre site into an expanded bus terminal/garage/administrative complex.</p><p>Gavlick said Tuesday that expanding LCTA&#8217;s operation has been discussed for two years, since he took over as executive director in mid-2014. He said the plan would be to have LCTA buses and vehicles in the Shared Ride program &#8212; currently at the Wyoming Valley Airport on the West Side &#8212; under one roof.</p><p>&#8220;We&#8217;re landlocked here,&#8221; Gavlick said of the authority&#8217;s Kingston location on Northampton Street. &#8220;We have limited storage capacity and our garage can only accommodate a certain amount of buses. We are always being asked to expand our services, but we have been unable to because we can&#8217;t handle more buses here.&#8221;</p><p>Gavlick said LCTA and PennDOT looked at about seven possible sites for a new location for the LCTA before deciding on the Murray complex. He said PennDOT did a feasibility study that took one year to complete, weighing the pros and cons of staying at the current site, or relocating. He said to stay at the current site, adjacent properties would have to be purchased.</p><p>Gavlick said a cost analysis was also done, and it was determined that the best option to accomplish the authority&#8217;s and PennDOT&#8217;s goals would be to relocate to a new site.</p><p>At the new site, Gavlick said a facility will be constructed to house more buses, allow for a larger garage/maintenance area and also build an administrative office building.</p><p>&#8220;After looking at all of the potential locations, the Murray complex site rose to the top,&#8221; Gavlick said. &#8220;It&#8217;s located in the downtown Wilkes-Barre area, close to the Intermodal Transportation Center and easily accessible.</p><p>Gavlick also noted that railroad tracks are located near the site that run to Lackawanna County near the County of Lackawanna Transit System. He said long-range plans could include re-use of those tracks to make for a more complete transportation system between the two counties.</p><p>Gavlick also said the plans for the new site would be to construct a CNG &#8212; compressed natural gas &#8212; fueling station for the LCTA buses. It would include a retail CNG operation to service area school buses, Gavlick said.</p><p>Gavlick could not put a cost estimate on the project. He said letters will be going out from PennDOT to the property owners to enter into negotiations for the purchase of the property. Environmental drill testing will be done at the site, but Gavlick said he doesn&#8217;t expect any issues to arise from that.</p><p>PennDOT will provide the funding for the property acquisitions and construction, Gavlick said. Gavlick listed two property owners involved in the project &#8212; one being Daniel Siniawa and Associates of Dickson City, which owns about 12 of the 14 acres at the site; and Freeman Realty of Wilkes-Barre, which owns about two acres.</p><p>Gavlick said LCTA currently has 38 buses that are used in 19 runs, and 49 Shared Ride vehicles, which are smaller vehicles and offer curb-to-curb service.</p><p>&#8220;Our long-term goal for this project is to have a bigger garage for more vehicles, more bus runs and more mechanics,&#8221; Gavlick said. &#8220;The reality is we can&#8217;t expand here at our current location. We even hope to one day offer evening service.&#8221;</p><p>In recent months, the Murray complex site has been considered as a possible building site for a new school for the Wilkes-Barre Area School District.</p><p>The site has been used as a drop zone for homeless people. In May 2016, a crude methamphetamine lab was found when authorities searched an abandoned building at the Murray complex.</p><p>In June 2013, a meeting was held at the site to discuss a plan to develop the former warehouse and site of Murray&#8217;s Inn into retail and residential space.</p><p>In July 2012, $4.7 million in government funding toward the project was lost when the promised money was canceled due to inactivity. The funding was committed from three sources in 2006 through 2008 while Siniawa was touting a $22 million plan for the site.</p><p>Siniawa representatives said the plan was to construct 60 condominiums, two restaurants with courtyards and 50,000-60,000 square feet of retail space, creating 45 jobs.</p><p>Siniawa paid $1.5 million to purchase the 11.63-acre property from Thomas Murray at a bankruptcy auction in 2004, records show.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Transportation Authority wants to build new facility at site</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

LCTA looking to make Murray complex its new home