A historic $8,000 sq. ft. property in Bedford Borough, Bedford County is up for sale, but there is more to the building than meets the eye.
The front half of the building looks like a typical home and currently exists as a business. Take a step through one of the doors inside, and you are immediately transported through history into a jail cell block.
“It took a lot of work,” said owner Diane Kelly.
Built in 1895, the jail operated for 100 years. Probation officers lived in the building until 2008. That’s when the county put it up for auction.
Diane Kelly bought it, moved in her weaving business, and spent the next eight years putting hundreds of thousands of dollars into restorations.
“The chimneys were collapsed,” Kelly said. “There was all carpeting on the floor. Desks, office furnishings. I mean, when the county left it, they pretty much left everything here because everything had moved to the new courthouse.”
The majority of the house and jail look just as it did years ago, cells included.
“The floors, almost all the windows are even original glass. Most of the residence side is all original,” Kelly said.
“It’s such a unique property and such a big part of Bedford County’s history,” said broker Sean Bardell of Hanna Bardell Realty. “As we walked through, she gave me the tour, she told me some of the stories.”
Now, the building is on the market for $489,000. Kelly is looking for just the right person to take over.
“I’m getting too old. I can’t do it all by myself,” she said. “I’d love to keep this place but I just can’t do it all. There’s people in town have said, ‘Oh it will be a great apartment building!’ and I would hate to see that happen. I would love to see it continued to be remodeled, refurbished, and be the building that it is.”
She and Bardell said the opportunities are endless.
“It could be a bed and breakfast. It could be an art museum. It could be a pub restaurant. It could be a micro brewery. It could be professional office space,” Bardell listed. “It just goes on and on and on.”
If you would like to check out the property listing, click the following link: http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/201-W-Penn-St-Bedford-PA-15522/2099117283_zpid/