Social Security moving office from New Kensington to Harrison’s Heights Plaza
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The Social Security Administration office that has been in New Kensington for nearly 40 years will be moving to Harrison, a government spokesman said.
The U.S. General Services Administration signed a new lease for the office to be at Heights Plaza in Natrona Heights, spokesman Will Powell said.
The office will be at 1721 Union Ave., which has been empty since CVS moved out in favor of a new building nearby on Freeport Road.
The office is being moved “in order to provide SSA with updated space that meets their current requirements,” Powell said.
A representative of plaza owner Benbrooke Realty Investment Co. did not respond to requests for comment.
The current Social Security office is at 707 Fifth Ave. in New Kensington, near Seventh Street and adjacent to The Corner, Penn State’s entrepreneurial center.
Powell did not say when the New Kensington office will close nor when the new location will open.
“With these matters, we have many issues that have to be worked through, and we are at the beginning of some of the issues,” said Shawn Fordham, regional communications director for the Social Security Administration.
“Right now, we have no estimated target date yet. We will continue to operate in the current building for the present.”
There are nearly 1,300 Social Security offices nationwide.
At Social Security offices, people can apply for a Social Security number; check earnings records; apply for benefits, SSI, hospital insurance protection, and get extra help with Medicare prescription drug costs; enroll for medical insurance; get help applying for food stamps; and get information about individual and family rights and obligations.
The administration has been leasing space at the New Kensington location for 38 years, Powell said. The Westmoreland County Industrial Development Corp. bought the building in 2017.
Alicia Henry, marketing director for the IDC, said the government has not yet given formal notice that it will be leaving the building. She said they are supposed to give notice at least 120 days in advance.
Henry could not say what the IDC will do with the building after the office moves.
News of the relocation prompted mixed reactions in New Kensington.
“I feel bad another place is going to be closing,” said Patty Reimer, who owns a hair salon, Cleopatra’s, across the street.
Reimer said she sees people standing in line to use the office, which her largely older clientele makes use of.
“I wonder what will go in there,” she said.
Sean Watson, who owns the building housing Reimer’s salon and his own eatery, SoCal, said the office’s departure will open up parking for his restaurant, for Memory Lane Flower Shop and for the nearby Eazer’s Restaurant & Deli.
“I can’t wait. They take up parking spots,” he said. “I wish them well with the parking lot (at Heights Plaza).”
Sue Anderson of Brackenridge went to the Social Security office in New Kensington on Wednesday. She said it was the first time she had to go there in a long time.
Although able to park on the street in front of the office, Anderson, who uses a walker, had to contend with a tall curb.
“That’s the whole problem,” she said.