SCRANTON — Vacant property in South Side that used to contain several homes will become “energy independent, affordable” apartments for a dozen families.
A group of several entities, including Newave Enterprise, a business of Rashida Lovely, and the nonprofit Afree Foundation, of which Lovely is CEO, and the North East Pennsylvania Pan African Coalition, among others, have partnered on the project to construct two buildings totaling 12 apartments and with utility costs included in the monthly rent of about $900, Lovely said.
Billed as the “first-of-its-kind model for Northeast Pennsylvania,” the $6.2 million project funded by government grants and donations is called “Welby Court Community & Resilience Affordable Housing Project.” Lovely and other participants held a ceremonial groundbreaking Monday at the property bounded by Cedar and Slocum avenues and Maple Street, and across Slocum Avenue from the South Scranton Intermediate School.
The goal of the project calls for “combining sustainable residential units with an on-site clean-energy microgrid to deliver zero-markup utilities and community broadband” internet access, the proponents said in a description. The microgrid would involve solar generation, battery storage, intelligent energy management and atmospheric water generation that converts moisture from ambient air into filtered drinking water.
Newave bought the site, which encompasses the addresses of 926-928 Cedar Ave., 930 Cedar Ave. and 925 Slocum Ave., in August 2024 from the Lackawanna County Land Bank.
“These were on the Land Bank and we recycle them back out to housing,” Lovely said.
The property still contains some stone foundations, walls and steps that are remnants of the houses that used to be there.
Andrew Cutillo, executive director of the Scranton Redevelopment Authority, said the project will give a boost to the South Side neighborhood. The SRA is not involved the project, but Cutillo attended the event Monday.
“I think it’s one of those underutilized, underused properties that neighbors would be happy to see become something beautiful and something useful,” Cutillo said of the site. “An important piece of this, too, is that the vision includes making the utilities accessible and affordable and that’s baked into the project, because we’re seeing utilities skyrocket” in rates paid by customers.
Previously, Lovely’s Newave converted a building at 1818 Jackson St. in West Scranton into a community center.
“We did this once before in West Side and now we’re trying to do it in South Side,” Lovely said.
The Afree Foundation website states its mission as: “Where equity and access are paramount, the Afree Foundation stands as a pioneering institution dedicated to the total technological, economic, cultural, environmental, educational and social upliftment of peoples of African descent.”
NEPAPAC’s website says that organization “works towards the empowerment of the African community of NEPA.”
The South Scranton project calls for construction of two three-story buildings, each with two three-bedroom apartments and four two-bedroom apartment on the upper floors. The building fronting on Cedar Avenue would have commercial space on the first floor. The other building closer to Slocum Avenue and the South Scranton Intermediate School would have a community center on the first floor. A block shed garage in the middle of the site would be demolished.
Lovely hoped to have construction start last month but encountered delays, and they decided to wait for spring. The target now is for construction to ensue next year, and “we should be having folks moving in by February” of 2028, she said.