Wells Fargo building on Easton’s Centre Square nears sale

Harry Fisher / THE MORNING CALL
Ken Greene and wife Diane Haviland have moved into an old buiding on Centre Square in Easton. They own the entire building, which used to be a clothing store called Lenny's.
Harry Fisher / THE MORNING CALL
Ken Greene and wife Diane Haviland have moved into an old buiding on Centre Square in Easton. They own the entire building, which used to be a clothing store called Lenny's.
Harry Fisher / THE MORNING CALL
The historic Easton National Bank & Trust Co. building on Easton's Centre Square may soon have a new owner. In an email, real estate agent Bobby Papageorgiou of Premier Choice Real Estate LLC, which represents the property, said that the building's owner doesn't want to comment until the sale is completed. A settlement, he said, could come within 45 days.
Harry Fisher / THE MORNING CALL
Ken Greene and wife Diane Haviland have moved into an old buiding on Centre Square in Easton. They own the entire building, which used to be a clothing store called Lenny's.
Harry Fisher / THE MORNING CALL
The historic Easton National Bank & Trust Co. building on Easton's Centre Square may soon have a new owner. In an email, real estate agent Bobby Papageorgiou of Premier Choice Real Estate LLC, which represents the property, said that the building's owner doesn't want to comment until the sale is completed. A settlement, he said, could come within 45 days.
Harry Fisher / THE MORNING CALL
Ken Greene and wife Diane Haviland have moved into an old building on Centre Square in Easton. They own the entire building, which used to be a clothing store called Lenny's.
FILE PHOTO / THE MORNING CALL
This is a look down Easton's South Third Street in the early 20th century. The buillding which currently houses the Wells Fargo bank is located there.
Harry Fisher / THE MORNING CALL
Ken Greene and wife Diane Haviland have moved into this old building on Centre Square in Easton. They own the entire building, which used to be a clothing store called Lenny's.
Harry Fisher / THE MORNING CALL
Ken Greene and wife Diane Haviland have moved into an old buiding on Centre Square in Easton. They own the entire building, which used to be a clothing store called Lenny's.
Harry Fisher / THE MORNING CALL
The historic Easton National Bank & Trust Co. building on Easton's Centre Square may soon have a new owner. In an email, real estate agent Bobby Papageorgiou of Premier Choice Real Estate LLC, which represents the property, said that the building's owner doesn't want to comment until the sale is completed. A settlement, he said, could come within 45 days.

By Morning Call | Staff Report

PUBLISHED: February 25, 2015 at 10:11 p.m. | UPDATED: June 16, 2018 at 4:40 a.m.

The historic Easton National Bank & Trust Co. building on Easton’s Centre Square may soon have a new owner.

Constructed in 1900, the structure had an ornate facade that was rounded at the corners. In the 1960s, the building was renovated and squared off outside.

Bobby Papageorgiou, an agent at Premier Choice Real Estate LLC, which represents the property, said in an email the building’s owner doesn’t want to comment until the sale is completed. A settlement, he said, could come within 45 days.

Easton Mayor Sal Panto Jr. said of the potential buyer, “I think it’s a group from Bethlehem. I think it’s going to be great.”

Panto said he’d heard the developer was planning to make changes to the building’s facade.

For more than a century, the building has been a downtown fixture. It offers one of the biggest swaths of office space in town, said Robert Freeman, a Democratic state representative from Easton.

“Certainly, it’s a key location in Centre Square,” said Clay Mitman, broker/owner of Prudential Paul Ford Realtors in Easton. A new developer could “renovate the building and bring in some more high-quality tenants.”

The first floor of the five-store office building is home to Wells Fargo Bank. It overlooks Third Street’s intersection with Centre Square, directly across from another of Easton’s mammoth office spaces, the Alpha Building.

Alpha, at 1 S. Third St., serves as Easton’s city hall, though city offices soon will move elsewhere on South Third Street. In 2013, the 72,700-square-foot Alpha Building sold to developer Mark Mulligan for $4 million.

“I’m glad to see properties in Easton moving,” Mulligan said.

The Northampton County real estate assessment notes the Wells Fargo property was most recently purchased April 18, 2002, by NK Investments LLP of Bethlehem for $1.1 million.

Commercial real estate website LoopNet lists the price as $1.895 million. It says the building encompasses 36,850 square feet, on a lot of 7,800 square feet.

blandauer@mcall.com

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