The Lackawanna County land where an amusement park attracted thousands each summer decades ago is up for sale again.
The owners of the former Rocky Glen Park land in Moosic want to sell its 198 acres for $14 million, according to a real estate listing.
White and Black Sand LLC, a Delaware-based real estate company, bought the land for $1,079,000 on Dec. 20, 2005, from G.T. Enterprises Inc., the amusement park’s last operator. The sale happened the day after White and Black’s incorporation, according to online Delaware corporate records.
The amusement park, which opened in 1886, last operated in 1987. Since then, owners have demolished its remaining buildings, but the land has remained vacant and undeveloped, despite the bucolic setting.
“It's ready for someone to come with their imagination and develop it into something phenomenal,” said Stephanie Gilezan, the broker marketing the land for her company, Gilezan Global, and eXp Commercial.
Gilezan said White and Black Sand is a family-owned real-estate investment company that owns land across the United States and outside this country. She declined to identify the family or offer more specifics about its interests.
“They thought maybe one day that they would come in and do some development in this area of Pennsylvania. And obviously they have not gotten around to doing it,” Gilezan said. “So, the land has sat there for all these years. They have now decided that it's not right for them to come in and develop it. They're not local to Pennsylvania whatsoever. And so, they have enlisted us to put it on the market.”
The land is zoned for commercial and residential uses. Its well-known pond was emptied to upgrade a more than 100-year-old dam that was declared unsafe, according to the listing. Gilezan said the company is working with the state Department of Environmental Protection on the upgrade.
“The final dam design is to be completed by year end and approval will be fast tracked by DEP as all calculations have already been reviewed and approved,” the listing says. “Construction of the new dam is expected to begin in 2025.”
In its 1950s and '60s heyday, Rocky Glen Park hosted numerous special days for ethnic groups, families, civic organizations, local companies plus weekly fireworks and many famous pop music stars.
They included Neil Diamond long before he became famous, Chubby Checker, who made “The Twist” a number one hit twice, Bobby Rydell, Fabian, The Four Seasons, Brian Hyland and many others. Many played on WARM Days, multi-artist concerts sponsored by WARM Radio that attracted tens of thousands of people. In later years, Meatloaf, Eddie Money, Huey Lewis & The News and Gloria Estefan & The Miami Sound Machine performed there.
Moosic Councilwoman Jane Sterling, whose husband Joseph, was the grandson of Ben Sterling, a former Rocky Glen owner, still lives in the family homestead near the former park.
Sterling hopes for the best in a new owner.
“You would think it's prime real estate,” she said. “I'd like to see something done with it. But of course, I'd like to see the right thing done with it. It's very sad to look out these windows every day ... It's great memories for a lot of people, certainly great memories for me but then when I look out ... it's a little depressing for me. It's a little depressing that it's not loved, there's no love there.”
