PNB letter removal hits snag in Center City

CENTER CITY (WPVI) -- Crews started taking down a fixture in Philadelphia's skyline on Sunday but the delicate operation hit a snag.

The process first started around 9:30 a.m.

The idea was to get the 16 ft. 'PNB' letters down one by one from atop of the One South Broad building.

A 3,600 horsepower helicopter, with a steel cable would gently lift a letter, then thread its way to the other side of City Hall and lower each 3,000 pound letter into the intersection at 15th Street and JFK Boulevard.

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"It's like a giant ballet act. You have men on top of the building and I guess their unbolting the rusty old bolts," said Clifford Schwinger.

Then a problem, as the chopper attempted to remove the fourth out of 12 letters.

"Removal of PNB letters has encountered complications," Mark S. McDonald, Press Secretary for Mayor Michael Nutter, tweeted Sunday afternoon.

The procedure caused roads around the building to be shut down.

McDonald said that most streets would reopen at 4:00 p.m. with JFK and Broad to reopen at 6:00 p.m.

Riggers became concerned the 60-year-old hand built structure could fall apart in mid-air so crews called it a day.

Well Fargo Bank is responsible for the iconic 'PNB' sign.

A spokesperson says the letters "were in worse condition than expected, very fragile." Not wanting an unforeseen incident, the program was halted.

As for Plan B, that's still being studied.

Among the possibilities are reinforcing the fragile letters and lifting them, or dismantling them by hand.

Earlier some spectators wondered what would happen once the letters finally do come down?

"What are they to do with it? We'd like to know," said Roger Conley.

Actually there are no plans to do anything to the building. A Wells Fargo Bank spokesperson explained that it was decided the letters had to come down because of long term safety.

The plan is not to replace them but to let the 1930's vintage building and its 17-ton Founder's Bell, built by the Wanamaker's, return to its original 'pre- PNB' design.