Couple transforms former bank into their new home

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    NORTH UNION TOWNSHIP, Pa (WNEP) — Inside the walls of what used to be Hazleton National Bank along Mahanoy Street in Nuremberg, you’ll still find the old vault and tellers table but it hasn’t been a bank since the place closed in 2012.

“If you’re going to live in a bank, you might as well own that upfront and make it obvious that, yes, this was a bank,” said William Zimmerman, North Union Township.

Yeah, you heard that right, this near century-old building that’s considered iconic by many people in this part of Schuylkill County has been remodeled into a house by Will and Cindy Zimmermann.

“My wife grew up in this town. I had been a pastor in this town for about eight years back in the ’80s into the ’90s. We were living in New Jersey and we had heard the bank closed and knew the people in the town were concerned about whether it would open again as a bank,” said Zimmermann.

The property was up for auction seven years ago.

That’s when the Zimmermann’s took action and bought it.

There was already an apartment on the second floor so they decided why not transform it fully into a place they can call their forever home.

But locally, it took some time for people to adjust.

“When we first bought it, we had to remind people that it wasn’t any longer. We’d be here working on things and people would be walking in the front door looking to make a deposit or looking for an ATM machine,” said Zimmermann.

From time to time, Will and Cindy will give tours to people who want to see what they did with the place and check out the view from their second-story balcony.

“We get up, we look at the sunrise and it just reminds us how fortunate we are to be where we are, to have this opportunity at this point of our lives,” said Zimmermann.

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