9/7/2001 - Heritage Bank anchoring $1.7M Trussville office
Birmingham Business Journal - September 7, 2001 by Don Milazzo Managing Editor
Decatur-based Heritage Bank is going east with its third branch in the Birmingham area.
Mike Washburn, Birmingham president of Heritage Bank, says he expects a Trussville banking center to open by late November or early December on U.S. Highway 11, just east of the city's downtown business district.
"We did a lot of homework on our site selection," Washburn says, citing encouraging reports on traffic counts and business startups. "And every time, we kept coming back to the Trussville area."
Anchoring a $1.7M project
Heritage will be the anchor tenant in a two-story, 10,000-square-foot building being developed by Mount Clear Investments, a Birmingham real estate development business led by Rance Gilbert, a nephew of the Heritage Bank CEO Reggie Gilbert. Rance's father, Greg, is a member of Heritage Bank's board of directors.
The project is expected to weigh in at $1.7 million upon completion, Rance Gilbert says.
The bank itself will occupy some 3,800 square feet on the first floor, with the remaining ground-level space devoted to common areas and a meeting facility that will be offered free for use by local groups, Washburn says. The roughly 4,700 square feet of leasable space on the second floor is being marketed to an office tenant.
"What we're hoping for is a tenant that could develop a synergistic relationship with the bank," Gilbert says. "Our best bet would be a law firm that handles a lot of real estate closings."
Hallmark Builders Inc. is general contractor on the project; Paul B. Krebs & Associates Inc. is the building's architect.
Like its existing Birmingham-area branches, the Trussville location will offer the bank's full line of retail, commercial and mortgage lending products in addition to consumer-oriented services. It will employ six people initially, he says.
In early 2000, Heritage opened Birmingham-area locations at 301 20th St. North downtown and at 3535 Grandview Pkwy., off U.S. Highway 280. The two branches employ a total of 18 people, Washburn says
"Our timing in coming to Birmingham was perfect," he says. "The community was looking for an alternative to the big banks, and I think our growth has proven that. And community banks will always have a place in areas like Trussville."
Assets up sharply
Early this week, Heritage's assets were $603 million, up some 28 percent from $471 million as of Dec. 31, 2000, while deposits hovered at $541 million.
John Venable, director of the community banking school at Samford University, says he's optimistic about Heritage Bank's prospects in the eastern Birmingham market.
"It think that's a great move for them," Venable says. "It's probably an underserved market, particularly for community banks. I think there's a tremendous future for community banks as people continue to want the high-touch, high personal service that community banks can offer their constituency."
Former AmSouth Bank executives Reggie Gilbert and John Whitley launched Heritage Bank of Decatur in 1995. With three branches in that city, it expanded to Huntsville in 1998 and opened a branch in nearby Madison, Ala., in September 2000.
CONTACT BBJ Managing Editor Don Milazzo at (205) 443-5630 or by e-mail at dmilazzo@bizjournals.com.