Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services has donated a 6.35 acre Ready to Go Site in CenterPoint Commerce & Trade East to the Commission on Economic Opportunity (CEO) to serve as the location for the construction of a regional food bank serving Luzerne, Lackawanna, Susquehanna and Wyoming Counties.
The donation is valued at more than $1 million and includes site work necessary to make the property ready for immediate construction.
The Wilkes-Barre-based CEO will construct a 50,220 square foot warehouse and distribution center on the parcel. The facility will house the operations of the non-profit Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank. Construction on the new facility is expected to begin as soon as possible.
According to Mericle Vice President of Marketing Jim Cummings, CEO was set to build the food bank on another site in Luzerne County but ran into unexpected problems with the property. They faced timing constraints with the grant funding for the overall project so it was imperative that they find a new site quickly.
“Fortunately, through our Ready to Go Program, we have been preparing dozens of sites in local business parks for immediate construction,” said Cummings. “Because of our past support of CEO, we knew the importance of their work in Northeastern Pennsylvania and wanted to help keep the project on track. So when they called us and asked us to donate a site we felt we were uniquely qualified to solve the problem and so we offered our site in CenterPoint.”
The Regional Food Bank assists community organizations in obtaining food to provide to needy families, in particular children and the elderly, by collecting donations of wholesome but unmarketable food from the food industry and distributing it to these organizations.
The Food Bank serves food pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, senior citizen programs, daycare centers, group homes for the disabled, children’s camps, churches, local governments, housing authorities, and others.
Founded by Robert K. Mericle, Mericle Construction Inc. self-performs virtually all aspects of development and construction, using its own in-house personnel, Mericle Construction is better able to control costs and fast track delivery schedules to meet its clients’ needs. It fashions itself as a throwback to the “master builder” of old when experienced craftsmen self-performed all aspects of the construction process.
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