The JCPenney building is empty. How it’s developed could change downtown

Nick Williams, commercial real estate adviser, stands in a back storeroom at the vacant JCPenney store in downtown Salem on Monday, Nov. 23. (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter)

For the first time in over four decades, Salem’s JCPenney was empty on Black Friday.

In late October, the inventory at the big-box retailer, located at 305 Liberty St. N.E., was cleaned out following JCPenney’s bankruptcy. Since then, the 102,500-square-foot building has sat empty, its windows papered up awaiting…