25-ton bank vault door being sold for $50,000, shipping not included
With $50,000 and a forklift, a piece of New Kensington history could be yours.
But getting the 25-ton, nearly century-old vault door out of the former PNC Bank, shipping and reassembling it would probably cost more than the door itself.
That's according to Mike Ionescu, the New York City real estate broker who has owned the prominent building at Ninth Street and Fifth Avenue since 2008.
While Ionescu said banks as far away as St. Louis have contacted him about the door, banks today for the most part are using much smaller vaults.
“Even though it's quite unique and not easy to find such a vault door, there's not a real market for it,” Ionescu said. “I truly don't expect to sell it.”
Although Ionescu said he's had the door listed for sale since shortly after buying the building, it just recently garnered international attention when the Daily Mail, a British tabloid, wrote about the door being for sale.
It's listed on the online auction site eBay; $50,000 is the “buy it now” price, and shipping is not an option.
PNC Bank announced in late 2006 that it was going to close the bank in early 2007. It was sold in October 2008 for $100,000.
The existing three-story building was built as a First National Bank in 1914. The building is in the New Kensington Downtown Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Unused since PNC closed, the building once housed offices, including a dental practice, on its second floor. A Masonic lodge was once located on the third floor.
The vault door, made by York Safe & Lock, is believed to date to the late 1920s or early 1930s. The door has a diameter of 7.5 feet, with a front plate 8 feet tall and 16 feet wide.
The company was founded in 1882 and was acquired in 1946 by Diebold, which continued using the York name until the late 1950s, said Dan Roe, vice president of interpretation for the York County Heritage Trust, whose Agricultural & Industrial Museum in York has several examples of the company's products in its collection.
The company's heyday lasted from the early 1900s to the 1930s and 1940s. That's when the door in New Kensington would have been made.
“It's amazing how many places their safes ended up,” Roe said. “You can find them nationally; you can find them internationally, for that matter. The expanse of what they produced and where they were installed to me is always really impressive.”
While none of the museum's examples is as large as the door here, it would be a challenge for the museum, which relies primarily on donations, to accept something of its size. Roe said it's common to hear of such doors being left in place and built around when a building has been renovated because it's easier than removing it.
“I can't think of a place to see a door that size publicly that they produced,” Roe said. “It's an example of the variety of what the company was producing. If there's a way to somehow keep it around, at a museum or still within the building it was used at, that's always a great thing to accomplish, if it's feasible.”
Still hopeful of a turnaround in New Kensington, Ionescu, who does work in The Poconos region of Pennsylvania, said he thinks the building's ground floor would be an ideal space for a restaurant.
“A good operator could turn it into a destination,” he said. “People do travel for a good experience.”
Ionescu has offered to donate space on the upper floors for a nonprofit focused on improving the downtown area. He said he wishes his business brought him closer to the area so he could be more active in the neighborhood.
“Personally, I fell in love with the town,” he said. “It could be a nice little downtown. I think in time the town could come back.”
Mayor Tom Guzzo agrees it could be a nice place for a restaurant, now that there's more foot traffic downtown from places including Westmoreland County Community College and the Career Training Academy.
“People are down there during the day looking for a place to eat,” he said. “It's a pretty treasured building. We'd love to see that turned into something special.”
Any attention brought to New Kensington's downtown will help with redevelopment efforts, Guzzo said. He pointed to the Better Block revitalization movement, which he said is opening eyes to the possibilities.
“There's quite a bit of excitement and buzz for our downtown right now,” Guzzo said. “It's our job to sustain it. That's what we have to do.”
Brian C. Rittmeyer is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-226-4701 or brittmeyer@tribweb.com.
