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United Community Bank will have its coming-out party Monday, almost a decade after the financial institution started doing business in Savannah.
The Blairsville-based regional bank will open its new local headquarters on Johnson Square. United Community’s home is one of Savannah’s most recognizable banking spaces, the century-old ornate marble building originally built for Citizens Bank & Trust in the early 1900s.
United Community’s restoration of the building is a nod to its history. The bank incorporated many of the original features in its renovations, particularly in the soaring lobby.
The stone floors were uncovered and refinished, the marble gates that front the bank’s vault complex were made the focal point of the room and the decorative chandeliers and clock were rewired and reinstalled.
The aesthetics, along with the location, will give a “tremendous boost to” United Community’s “visibility and profile,” local market president Gene Gibson said.
“We’ve had a branch downtown for nine years, but many people didn’t even know it was there,” Gibson said. “This gives us a real presence.”
United Community relocated its downtown office from the Realty Building, located a block east at Drayton and Bryan streets, to its new digs over the weekend. Gibson and his executive team will also move into the Johnson Square building after working out of the southside office on White Bluff for several years.
Gibson expects the high-profile location to boost United Community’s retail banking business. The bank is Savannah’s 13th largest in terms of local deposit share, with $69 million on deposit through its three branches.
The Johnson Square location has a two-lane drive-thru and a drive-up ATM.
“The commercial lending business you have to go out and get it, but the retail side is about visibility, accessibility and customer service,” Gibson said.
The rebirth of the building has created quite a buzz, with more than 300 guests turning out to tour it during a preview party last week. The space has been empty since May 2008 when The Coastal Bank deemed it outdated and too expensive to maintain and relocated to another building on Johnson Square.
United Community Bank purchased the property in February 2011 for $2.45 million and targeted the end of that year for opening. But complications within the building, particularly with a proposed interior elevator that would serve the subterranean office space, led to delays.
United Community ultimately abandoned the elevator plans and made other allowances for disabled employees and customers. The bank also paid special attention to the building’s environmental and electrical operations, replacing the electrical, heating and air conditioning, and technological systems.
The building’s renaissance pleased one of United Community’s new neighbors. The Coastal Bank’s CEO Jim Lahaise worked in the building prior to his bank’s move to 18 W. Bryan St.
“The building served The Coastal Bank well, and I am glad to see such a historically rich building get the preservation attention and allow it to continue to serve the community as a bank,” Lahaise said.
ABOUT UNITED COMMUNITY BANK
United Community Bank is headquartered in Blairsville and operates 103 branches in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee. The bank opened its first Savannah branch in 2004 in the Realty Building at Drayton and East Bryan streets and has since added branches on East Victory Drive and White Bluff Road. The bank is the 13th largest in terms of local market share, with more than $69 million in deposits.
ON THE WEB
Go to spotted.savannahnow.com to view photos from the bank’s grand opening celebration and see who was Spotted®.