#3– Landmark Waynesburg building demolished
Work to demolish the six-story former People’s National Bank building on High Street began June 23.
The demolition of the former People’s National Bank building on High Street was begun the night of June 23 and drew a crowd to the courthouse wall.
Waynesburg University, which purchased the former People’s National Bank Building, hired a demolition company to tear doiwn the historic structure. The university hasn’t said what use it will make of the property.
A landmark in downtown Waynesburg, the six-story former People’s National Bank building, was demolished in June, leaving, depending on one’s point of view, another vacant lot on Main Street or a potential site for new development.
The demolition was announced following an effort by the former owner to rehabilitate the structure, which had been vacant for more than 20 years. The building was constructed by the People’s National Bank and was opened in August 1907. After the bank closed, the building was sold to the county, which used it as an office building from 1952 to 1989.
The building was sold to John McNay in 1994. In late 2013, McNay and a contractor announced plans to rehabilitate the building and convert it to 28 apartments. The plan required the approval of the Waynesburg Zoning Hearing Board.
The plan eventually received board approval, though during the zoning hearings, Waynesburg University strongly opposed it.
The project appeared to be moving forward when in March, the university purchased the property from McNay for $410,000,
Three months later, the university announced the building would be demolished, citing its numerous deficiencies and “severely rundown” condition. The new use of the property, the university said, would be decided during the process that was being begun to revise the borough’s comprehensive plan. The demolition work started the night of June 23 and drew a crowd of onlookers.
At Waynesburg Borough Council’s next meeting, however, a small group of downtown property owners and businesses criticized the borough for letting the university demolish the building.