This Chevy sign could be yours, if the price is right

City and Covelli Centre officials hope the Chevy sign fetches $6,000 to $10,000.

YOUNGSTOWN — Anyone interested in a slightly used 6-foot-by-15-foot Chevrolet bow-tie sign?

If so, city officials are looking for you.

The bow tie came off the exterior of the former Chevrolet Centre in May when Covelli Enterprises signed a three-year deal to rename the facility the Covelli Centre. Covelli is paying $120,000 annually for the naming rights to the city-owned indoor arena.

City and center officials are trying to sell the bow-tie sign, which is a little more than three years old, without any luck.

The sign is sitting on a pallet in a storage area of a Brookfield business.

Center officials approached General Motors automobile dealerships about buying the sign.

That hasn’t worked.

“With the crisis at GM, their money is tied up,” said Brandon Bucar, the center’s assistant director and its director of facilities.

Also, with the company closing several of its dealerships, “there’s probably a lot of those signs out there,” said Eric Ryan, the Covelli Centre’s executive director.

Bucar expects the sign could go for $6,000 to $10,000 — if the right buyer comes along.

“It’s a good item to sell,” said Kyle Miasek, the city’s deputy finance director.

Covelli Centre officials have made “very informal” contact with the owners of the Chevrolet Theatre in Wallingford, Conn., to see if they are interested in the sign, Bucar said.

A Chevrolet Theatre official told The Vindicator on Thursday that the arena isn’t interested because it’s about to undergo a name change.

Bucar said the fluorescent sign could end up on govdeals.com — a Web site that allows government agencies to sell surplus items over the Internet.

There’s also always eBay, Bucar said.

The city’s board of control on Thursday approved paying its half of $54,000 for the design, fabrication and installation of the center’s digital marquee and other signs at the Covelli Centre. Covelli Enterprises already paid its share of the cost.

Most of the money went to Signs by George, a Brookfield company, for the work. The old bow-tie sign is being stored at that company’s headquarters.

Signs by George & Son received about $49,000 of the money, with FastSigns of Youngstown paid $5,000 for work.

The cost would have been greater had it not been for a fortunate coincidence, Miasek said.

The “centre” signs — part of Chevrolet Centre — on the west and north sides of the building were kept.

Also, the facility used letters left over from “Chevrolet” for “Covelli,” Miasek said.

All that was missing was the second “l” and an “i.”

skolnick@vindy.com