Community Bank preparing for roomier new home in North Franklin
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
The future boardroom/conference room for Community Bank at their corporate center in North Franklin Township
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
One of many rooms under construction that will be used by Exchange Underwriters Inc. inside the Community Bank corporate center in North Franklin Township
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Pat O’Brien, president of Community Bank, shows off a room inside the bank’s new corporate center.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
A painter works in a hallway inside the new corporate center for Community Bank in North Franklin Township.
Pat McCune, vice chairman and CEO of Community Bank, announced Monday he is retiring June 20.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
From left, Richard Boyer, president of Exchange Underwriters Inc., Pat McCune, vice chairman and CEO of Community Bank, and Pat O’Brien, president of Community Bank, stand in front of the future site of the Community Bank corporate center.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Richard Boyer, president of Exchange Underwriters Inc., checks out the work being done on the new Community Bank corporate center in North Franklin Toiwnship.
Community Bank is still striving to be a community bank. But it has really gotten big and continues to grow to the point that …
It’s time to move.
In about three months, the corporate operations of the 117-year-old financial institution will do just that. Community Bank announced Wednesday that it will leave its cramped quarters at 90 W. Chestnut St., Washington, this summer for more spacious digs two miles to the west. The new corporate center will be at 2111 North Franklin Drive, North Franklin Township, in a building formerly occupied by Jumper’s Junction, a restaurant and banquet facility.
After Nello Construction Co. of Canonsburg has completed the renovation, Community Bank will have 22,500 square feet – about 50 percent more than it currently has – with which to function. CB Financial Services Inc., parent of the bank, acquired the two-story structure two years ago, in the shadow of Wild Things Stadium.
“We’re becoming a $1.25 billion bank that will have a larger volume of customers. We’ll need more people, computers and space,” said Pat McCune, the company’s chief executive officer.
Operating in a more comfortable environment will be important for the 50-plus who work there. But location likewise is a key to this relocation.
The corporate center, with signs at the top of the second floor, will glisten and be visible to commuters along Interstate 70. “We really think this center will be a showpiece,” said Pat O’Brien, Community Bank’s president. “It will give us great branding.”
This site also is mere miles from I-79. Easy accessibility is vital to a business in a growth mode, one that currently has 16 offices in five Southwestern Pennsylvania counties and will soon have an estimated 24 in three states.
“We’re telling the world we’re preparing Community Bank for the future as it grows and the tri-state area grows,” said McCune, who considers the move near the ballpark to be a home run.
CB Financial announced in November that it reached a merger agreement with First West Virginia Bancorp Inc., the Wheeling-based holding company for Progressive Bank NA, in a cash and stock transaction valued at about $49 million. The deal is expected to close this spring. Progressive has nine branches – eight in West Virginia and one in Bellaire, Ohio.
This will occur 3 1/2 years after Community Bank merged with Monessen-based First Federal Savings Bank. Community is establishing a formidable footprint, one with assets exceeding $1 billion, and one that trades on the NASDAQ as CBFV.
No wonder a corporate center is being fashioned. Community Bank will use the top floor for its executive offices, commercial and mortgage lenders, human resources, retail operations, compliance and auditing. It also will use part of the ground floor, but most of that will be occupied by Exchange Underwriters, the bank’s insurance subsidiary, which currently is in Canonsburg.
The relocation has Rich Boyer, founder and president of Exchange Underwriters, exhaling literally and figuratively. He is among 22 employees who have outlived their space, two converted houses on Pike Street with a total of 5,000 square feet in which to work. Their new workplace will have 9,000 square feet, enough to accommodate another eight to 10 staffers who are expected to eventually come on board.
“This will make our operation a lot more efficient,” he said with an easy smile.
A tour of the site shows there is still a lot of interior work ahead for Nello, which is working in tandem with NEXT Architecture. A roomier atmosphere will be the primary benefit for employees and visitors, but not the only one. There are an estimated 100 parking spaces near the building, and separate entrances for the bank and underwriters. Employees also will have access to a kitchen/dining area and outdoor areas for leisure, including a balcony off the second floor.
Serving the public, however, has been Community Bank’s mission since it was formed in 1901, McCune and O’Brien stressed. They are committed to maintaining that tradition.
“We’re a bread-and-butter bank and a bread-and-butter insurance brokerage,” O’Brien said.
The bread and butter will soon have larger shelves.