But what good is a bank vault with steel, 18-inch thick walls to an Italian restaurant? “We did some homework (and) found out, well, (we should) turn it into a walk-in cooler,” Raymond said.

The 3-foot-tall vault, steel-plated and heavier than a cannonball, is the centerpiece of the new joint at 61 NE First St., which fills the bones of the former Bank of Pompano. Its crime-ridden ...