Berks County's 600 Penn Street Purchase: Every Step, Tracked

Last updated September 18, 2026. This page is the running record of Berks County's move to buy the former Wells Fargo tower at 600 Penn Street in Reading. We add a row every time the county takes a step. Each board vote is sourced to the county's agenda packet and meeting video, linked from our recap of that meeting; the two earliest steps rest on the county's announcement and Spotlight PA's reporting.

Berks County is buying the former Wells Fargo office tower at Sixth and Penn streets as a place to move county offices while it repairs its aging courthouse. The commissioners have offered $7.235 million, authorized an agreement of sale, set aside a $500,000 escrow deposit, and appropriated $25,225 to inspect and appraise the building. The county has not yet closed on the purchase, has not made public a final price beyond the July offer, and has not announced a closing date.

Where it stands

• Price: $7.235 million letter of intent (July 28). No later document has stated a different price, and the agreement of sale the board authorized on August 27 did not restate one.
• Money appropriated toward the purchase so far: $525,225. That is the $500,000 escrow deposit plus $25,225 for a due-diligence study, appraisal, and environmental study.
• Closing: no date has been made public.
• What is next: the county's minutes or a future agenda would show the executed sale terms, the closing, and any money to fit out the building for county offices.

Every step, in order

Date	What the county did	Money	Our coverage
May 4, 2026	Announced, in a news release, a plan to buy 600 Penn Street as a County Government Center consolidating most non-judicial departments. County officials later told Spotlight PA that about 300 employees would move there and that the courthouse work could wait 8 to 10 years.	none	Background below
July 9	Board authorized outside counsel to negotiate a possible purchase.	none stated	July 9 recap
July 28	At a workshop meeting, commissioners approved a letter of intent to buy the tower for $7.235 million, the average of two independent valuations. Reported by Spotlight PA (and republished by Berks Weekly); we found no minutes or video of the workshop posted.	$7.235 million offer	Background below
Aug. 20	Board hired Beers + Hoffman Architecture to write a master plan for moving offices out of the courthouse, with companion planning for the Services Center and 600 Penn Street.	up to $82,675	Aug. 20 recap
Aug. 27	Resolution 263.2026 authorized an agreement of sale with 600 Penn Street, LP, subject to final review by the county solicitor. The resolution stated no price.	none stated	Aug. 27 recap
Sept. 3	Resolution 267.2026 appropriated general-fund balance for "the required escrow deposit for the purchase of 600 Penn."	$500,000	Sept. 3 recap
Sept. 10	Resolution 274.2026 appropriated general-fund balance "to provide for due diligence study, appraisal, and environmental study related to the purchase of 600 Penn St."	$25,225	Sept. 10 recap
Sept. 17	Resolution 284.2026 authorized an Earnest Money Escrow Agreement among 600 Penn Street, LP, the county, and First American Abstract as escrow agent, the mechanism for holding the deposit. No price, closing date, or escrow figure appeared on the agenda.	none stated	Sept. 17 recap

The board votes above (July 9, Aug. 20, Aug. 27, Sept. 3, Sept. 10, and Sept. 17) came through the commissioners' standard practice of approving the full agenda in a single block; the July 28 letter of intent was approved at a workshop meeting. The Beers + Hoffman contract covers the courthouse move as a whole, not only 600 Penn Street, so it is listed here as related spending rather than counted in the purchase total.

What the county is paying

The $7.235 million figure is the average of two independent valuations, one from a real estate broker and one from an appraiser. County Chief Operations Officer Kevin Barnhardt told Spotlight PA the county had no leeway in setting the offer: "As a government entity, we can only pay the appraised value of a property based on county codes."

That price sits well above what the building last changed hands for. Owner Alan Shuman bought 600 Penn Street in 2021 for $3.2 million from the Greater Berks Development Fund, and the county assesses it for taxes at just over $1.4 million. The county's offer reflects current market appraisals rather than either earlier number.

Spotlight PA reported two more details. The offer was less than the building's owner initially wanted, officials told the outlet. And at the July 28 workshop, County Finance Director Laura Jones presented cost scenarios comparing buying with leasing, in which the county would save at most $12 million over 10 years by purchasing rather than paying a gross lease of $15 per square foot, with rent and utilities rising 2.5 percent a year.

Why the county wants the building

Berks had estimated about $35 million to renovate its courthouse. Early in 2026, engineers inspecting the building found damaged mechanical systems and asbestos-covered pipes the county says it did not expect, and the renovation estimate climbed past $130 million. Recent reporting puts the courthouse figure near $135 million; a separate figure of about $165 million covered the courthouse and the Services Center together.

Commissioner Chair Christian Leinbach's explanation to Spotlight PA for the late discovery: "The question is, 'Why are you finding this out now?' And the answer is really very simple." The asbestos became a problem once renovation plans triggered the inspections that found it.

Facing that number, the county turned to 600 Penn Street as a place to move offices out of the courthouse and the adjacent Services Center while the work is done.

The plan has shifted since it was first announced. On May 5 officials described the tower as a permanent county government center for about 300 non-judicial employees, with the Services Center at 633 Court Street becoming a judicial center and the full courthouse renovation pushed back 8 to 10 years. By late July they presented 600 Penn Street as temporary space to hold offices while the courthouse is repaired, with the renovation as the priority. Some departments may stay at the tower for good. Election services already rents part of the building and could remain. Barnhardt said the details are unsettled: "We don't want to get pinned down to dates and pricing because it's, again, it's wide open right now."

Why the money context matters

The 2026 budget was already stretched before these numbers surfaced. As Spotlight PA reported when the budget was introduced in November 2025, the county is covering a roughly $16 million operating gap with capital reserve and COVID-era community support funds, is taking on $25 million in new debt this year, its first since 2015, and expects the bills for a youth detention center and a 911 radio replacement to come due in 2027 or early 2028. A new jail decision that could reach hundreds of millions is still pending, the five-county youth detention center approved in July carries its own costs, and on August 27 the board took a first step toward borrowing up to $30 million for that center. The full picture is in our budget report.

A courthouse renovation near $135 million, on top of a $7.235 million building purchase, lands on all of that. The county has not said how it would finance either.

What is still not public

The offer price and the escrow deposit are on the record. Other pieces of the decision are not. The county has not released the engineering reports behind the courthouse estimate, the two appraisals that set the $7.235 million offer, the executed sale terms, a closing date, or a financing plan. Our opinion piece argued in July that the county should publish that analysis before signing an agreement of sale; the board authorized that agreement on August 27 without publishing the underlying documents.

How to weigh in

Residents can comment at commissioners meetings in person or online; here is how. The board meets most Thursdays at 10 a.m. at the Berks County Services Center, 633 Court Street, Reading. For what the county controls versus the state and your township, see how Berks County government works.