Volunteers repaint National Bank

It may be a long time before any business owners decide to set up shop in Pittsburg’s National Bank Building, but volunteers are doing what they can to spruce up the building’s shops and make them occupiable.

Volunteer Sue Robinson and Colonial Fox Theatre Foundation Director Vonnie Corsini have been working the past few days to give the building’s Fourth Street storefronts a long-needed makeover. When they’re done, the shops will have painted facades that appear to be awnings.

Robinson, who painted the mural on the north side of the Colonial Fox Theatre, and Corsini couldn’t have done the work without the help of volunteer Kate Price, who logged at least 50 hours of work scraping the faded and cracking paint from shops. They’re replacing it with paint donated by TH Rogers Lumber Co., Broadway Lumber Company, Inc., and The Home Depot, and with the aid of a lift donated by Volvo Rents.

The building was acquired by the Colonial Fox Theatre Foundation in November of last year for $85,000, which was paid entirely by donations from the Mitchelson and Menghini families, WATCO, the Webb family and an anonymous donor. Mid America Roofing will donate roof repairs to prevent further damage, and an anonymous donor has pledged to pay for future property taxes and insurance.

The building was built in the 1880s and was home to the National Bank of Pittsburg, now Bank of America, N.A., until the bank moved to its present location in 1965. The building’s tenants then organized Pittsburg Enterprises, Inc. and purchased the building from the Bank. The building had fallen into disrepair and “was a pinstroke away” from being demolished, Corsini said.

“We’re serious about what this downtown can become, and the National Bank Building has a place,” Corsini said Wednesday as she and Robinson painted the facades. “The owners of the building wanted it to go to the Colonial Fox because they had a vision and had faith in community support that something could finally happen.”

The goal of the work is to make the buildings more palatable to businesses that might be looking to set up shop in Pittsburg.
“It’s the first thing (of downtown Pittsburg) people see when they come into town,” Price said. “We thought if we just gave it some curb appeal, it would make a big difference.”

There’s still a long way to go before the shops are ready for occupancy. The dilapidated paneling and dropped ceilings from the 1970s need to be gutted, and the original ceilings, some of which are elaborately molded, need to be restored. Some of the shops also have been broken into and lived in by the homeless. Price even discovered marble floors underneath the rotting linoleum floor tiles in what used to be Anthony Stevens Floral.

“It’s amazing how things have changed,” said Sarah Jensen, a spokesperson for the foundation. “Eight thousand vehicles pass by it every day, and I think it’s going to make a big difference.”

Corsini said CDL Electric had pledged to inspect the shops, and that Heikes Masonry and Restoration, which repaired the east and west basements of the theater, would inspect the brickwork. Freddy Van’s also donated valuable equipment, she said.

Though the improvements are purely cosmetic at the moment, Corsini likened it, and the enthusiasm of the Colonial Fox Theatre Foundation’s volunteers and donors, to movie theater popcorn.

“The box is popping, and it’s spilling all over Pittsburg,” she said.

For more information about donating or volunteering, contact Jensen or Corsini at the Colonial Fox Theatre Foundation at (620)235-0622.