PNB letters removed from Center City building

CENTER CITY (WPVI) -- All eyes were skyward in Center City Sunday morning as crews working with an ace helicopter pilot safely removed the remaining and iconic PNB letters atop One South Broad Street.

"We live on the 12th floor and it was wild seeing the letters come right across our balcony. It was quite a wake-up call," said John Pierce.

"I think it's amazing. The piloting skills are great. I mean to bring that into the city, it's amazing," said Timo Kargus.

Pulling this off was no easy task. The removal effort closed a number of roads around Philadelphia City Hall for a few hours.

Crews tried it back in August, but had a hard time because the 16 foot tall blue and white letters were rusted and deteriorating.

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At 3,000 pounds apiece, picking up the letters and flying them around Center City to get them to the ground was difficult, even though it may not have looked that way.

"We didn't wrap them. We just tightened them up, put the strapping around them, and everything went great," said John Foley, Philadelphia Sign Company.

"We just brought out kids ice skating and we almost got sucked in to the wind tunnel of the helicopter," said Tricia Pickford.

Each letter was lowered to lowered one at a time by helicopter to a flatbed truck on the street. The final letter 'N' was removed around 8:10 a.m.

PNB stands for Philadelphia National Bank.

The letters have been part of the city skyline since the 1950s but were deemed unsafe to stay 28 stories off the ground.

After their removal, the letters were loaded onto flatbed trucks and prepped for travel. The New York-based owners of the building have requested that a letter B be saved for the lobby once it's refurbished.

Wells Fargo, which maintained the sign, will put a set of three in storage.

While the building's landmark letters are gone from the outside, the 17-ton Founder's Bell, built by the Wanamakers, remains on the inside.