“First Commonwealth Bank in Leechburg to shut its doors Dec. 11, the victim of increased online traffic,” headlined a local newspaper Saturday.

For our non-local readers, Leechburg is a picturesque town of 2,200 people, on the Kiskiminetas River (a tributary of the Allegheny), 35 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. According to Wikipedia, its reason for being was as “a major port on the Pennsylvania Canal,” which was eclipsed by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1852. For many years thereafter, the railroad had a whistle stop in Leechburg. Small industrial users located there due to the river and the railroad. Their heyday, though, ended at least 50 years ago. Still, “The First National Bank of Leechburg” remains carved in ten foot high letters at the top of the bank building’s facade, long after industry consolidation led the local bank to be absorbed by larger ones, including most recently, First Commonwealth.

“Online traffic” is but a pretext for closing banking facilities that have not been profitable to operate since the last century. The news article concluded saying “bank officials continue to work with the borough to find a best use for the building.” In our experience, that is not Mission Impossible.

Our friend Jim Mitnik repurposed the former Bank of Aspinwall building into a combination office and retail building by removing four successive dropped ceilings in the century old building, and by installing a second floor and an elevator. That floor provides office space for multiple online business ventures, while the ground floor has been reconfigured for multiple retail tenants.

PNC’s decision to close that banking location after it acquired National City Bank in the financial crisis 12 years ago led to the same sort of hand wringing by Aspinwall’s political and business leaders that Leechburg is now experiencing. Mitnik told me, “they were worried, but now they are delighted.” That is to say successful redevelopment of former bank properties is necessary to keep small retail districts vital. When done well, it accomplishes that purpose.

Essential is the imagination and capital to support repurposing these structures. Some communities, including Aspinwall, have demographics that will support reimagined retail and office uses. Elsewhere, less obvious solutions are needed.

Franklin, Tennessee, outside Nashville, is home to a pre-Civil War church that lacked a parish hall type facility. During that conflict, the church sanctuary became a hospital for Confederate wounded soldiers. In the early 1990s, when the bank branch across the street closed, the church bought the land and building. Today it serves as a parish hall on Sundays and as a community center during the week. Problem solved. A similar repurposing occurred in the Ohio town where I lived as a child. Here too, a local church was the new owner/operator of what is now a community center.

Some people may say taking commercial property off the tax rolls in this way is not in the community’s interest. The alternative--vacant central business district property--is worse.

The current Covid-19 pandemic is forcing businesses everywhere to reevaluate their need for office and retail space. Closings and bankruptcies will be next year’s business epidemic--one for which no vaccine can or will exist.

“Reduce, reuse, recycle” is the mantra of environmentally-minded citizens. It is an equally useful touchstone for those of us who are stewards of financial institutions and the communities they serve.