08-04-2025
Demolition begins on Court Street side of downtown Reading building
Demolition work has begun on the rear of 431 Penn St., one of several Reading-owned buildings near Penn Square.
Crews operating heavy machinery early Tuesday dug into the Court Street-facing end of the building with the jaw-like pincers of the excavator, making quick work of the exterior walls.
While work is underway in the 400 block of Court Street, the following street closures will be in effect until further notice:
• Court Street between Fourth and Fifth streets and Madison Avenue between the Madison building parking lot at Washington and Court streets will be closed.
• Local traffic will be permitted to use Court Street from Fourth Street to the Madison parking lot and from Fourth Street to the garage door on Madison Avenue at the rear of 401 Penn St.
During this period, Court Street and Madison Avenue will operate as two-way streets to allow limited local access within the affected areas.
Work on the Penn Street side of the building was completed in March.
The building is the most problematic in the string of five vacant properties, 431-443 Penn St., that the city bought for $2.6 million in 2013.
The 1.22-acre site on the northwest corner of Fifth and Penn streets is in the Callowhill Historic District.
Only the 1912 Beaux Arts-style front of the structure at 431 Penn St. is considered historic. Originally part of the former Reading News building at 22-24 N. Fifth St., it was transplanted piece by piece to its current location in 1981 as part of the former American Bank $6 million Keystone Project.
City Council last year authorized an agreement of sale for the five buildings with developer Philly Office Retail, but the deal has not yet been finalized.
