The largest office building in downtown New Kensington was successfully sold through an online auction.

The winning bidder for the building at 901 Fifth Ave., which until November housed a Citizens Bank branch, is from California, said James Kelly, a managing member of KeWe New Kensington, which has owned the building since 2003.

Kelly would not identify the bidder or disclose the purchase price. The sale is not yet complete and is expected to close over the next 30 to 45 days.

The auction had a $200,000 starting bid and a reserve price that had not been disclosed.

“There was also a good backup bidder from (the) New England area,” said Kelly, who is also a senior vice president and principal with Avison Young, a commercial real estate company.

With the departure of Citizens Bank, Kelly said KeWe’s aging partners saw it as the right time to sell the nearly century-old building, which is at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Ninth Street.

KeWe bought the building from the New Kensington Redevelopment Authority. The authority is now the only tenant in the six-story building, which at one time housed a variety of offices for doctors, lawyers and others.

It previously housed Mellon Bank and originally the Logan Trust Co. The Logan Trust name is engraved on the building.

The redevelopment authority has had its offices in the building for 70 years, Executive Director Bill Herman said.

Herman said he doesn’t know who the tentative buyer is or their plans for the property.

“It’s been home to us for a long time,” Herman said. “We’re prepared to move on if we need to.”

Herman said he’s happy that the auction was successful.

“It sounds like it’s going to happen in some form. The question is, to what purpose?” he said. “The opportunity to move forward with an investment of capital from outside the city is exciting.”

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