The demand for affordable energy has helped Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services recruit a major retail energy provider to Forty Fort, Luzerne County.
Gateway Energy Services has leased just over 8,500 square feet of office space in the Cross Valley West Professional Building at 190 Welles Street. The space had previously been occupied by Nationwide Insurance.
Steven J. Maslak, President and CEO of Gateway Energy Services, addresses the crowd at opening of new office in Mericle’s Cross Valley West Professional Building.
Founded in 1997, Gateway Energy Services Corporation is a privately held retail energy marketer supplying natural gas and electricity to residential and commercial customers in 27 deregulated markets across New York, New Jersey, Texas, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia and Ontario, Canada. Gateway provides competitive energy products to consumers giving them more control over their energy costs.
Gateway is headquartered in Montebello in Rockland County, New York and employs 200 people nationwide. In the Forty Fort office, Gateway will serve customers in Pennsylvania and New York. The new operation will be a customer service and sales center and Gateway expects to create up to 50 new jobs.
“Opening our call center in the Wilkes-Barre area is a perfect fit for us,” said Steve Maslak, president and CEO of Gateway. “It’s not too far from headquarters and we have the benefit of tapping into a pool of quality employees who will help support company growth and our introduction into the Pennsylvania market.”
The Cross Valley West Professional Building is owned by Wilkes-Barre developer Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services. Mericle has renovated the huge former A&P warehouse and office complex into a modern office and industrial center. Mericle has modernized the entire complex and most recently installed new energy efficient industrial lighting and re-painted the warehouse section. The industrial area has just over 200,000 SF for lease.
The building’s office area houses 16 tenants including Candy’s Place, The Brace Place, Northeast Eye Institute, Valley ENT, Geisinger, and Intermountain Health Group and offers suites for lease ranging from 1,000 SF to 20,000 SF.
Mericle Vice President Jim Hilsher worked with Gateway throughout the site selection and leasing process. “We know that finding affordable energy has become a major concern of both residential and commercial customers,” said Hilsher. “In fact, our research tells us that manufacturing companies list affordable energy as one of the three most important factors they consider when deciding where to locate a new facility. We’re glad we are able to meet Gateway’s space needs at our Cross Valley West Professional Building and we hope they will be successful in finding cost savings for their energy customers.”
Hilsher thanked John Augustine and Tom Williams of the Greater Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business & Industry for their help with the project.
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.