Two Springfield banks add north-side branches

The activity is a second recent wave of north-side positioning by area banks. In early 2003, Citizens National Bank and The Bank (now The Signature Bank) entered the north-side market, each with East Kearney branches.

Guaranty Bank

Construction is nearly complete on Guaranty Bank’s West Kearney facility, which replaces the branch inside Dillon’s at 1831 W. Kearney.

Guaranty Bank has not renewed leases with Dillon’s for branch space in four Springfield stores, said Don Gibson, vice chairman of Guaranty Federal Bancshares, the bank’s holding company. By November, client accounts and banking services handled at Dillon’s on West Kearney, and at 1260 St. Louis and 1707 W. Battlefield will shift to other permanent Guaranty locations, Gibson said. By May 2005, Guaranty’s branch in Dillon’s 2843 E. Sunshine store will be moved.

Ultimately, the bank would like to expand those in-store branches to stand-alone sites, Gibson said.

In the event a standalone operation hasn’t been built to handle accounts from Dillon’s East Sunshine branch, those accounts will be moved to Guaranty’s operations at 1510 E. Sunshine, said Shaun Burke, president and CEO.

Guaranty Bank initially took over the four Dillon’s bank branches as part of its 2001 acquisition of Commercial Federal Bank.

The bank’s new West Kearney branch should be open by mid-November, said Burke. Building and equipment will cost about $400,000 for the 3,470-square-foot location. Morelock-Ross Builders is the general contractor; Butler, Rosenbury & Partners Inc. is the architect.

“We sure didn’t want to back off our commitment up there, and we saw that a full-service, free-standing facility would tremendously better serve our client base and allow us to grow than what the in-store branches would do,” Burke said.

Guaranty has a long-term land lease with Roger Family Real Estate LLC for the West Kearney property, he added.

Meanwhile, finding land for a Guaranty facility near its branch in Dillon’s at St. Louis and National has been difficult, Gibson said. Real estate prices near center city have spiked sharply, the result of recent development in the area, he added.

At its headquarters, Guaranty has refurbished its mortgage division’s operations at 1341 W. Battlefield. The bank has experience continued growth in marketing of “primary residential (and) one- to four-family investment properties,” Gibson said.

Taking over the 2,500 square feet previously leased to DataTrade LLC, Guaranty Bank finished a $100,000 remodel in July, which included furnishings and equipment, Burke said. “Over time, through our growth, we’ve been kind of scattered out through our bank, and we wanted to consolidate that mortgage lending effort into one area,” he added.

As of Oct. 12, Guaranty Bank had total assets of $431.5 million, Burke said.

Great Southern

Great Southern is adding its 30th location at 507 E. Kearney in the former Last Great American Diner across the street from Baptist Bible College.

Great Southern purchased the restaurant after it foreclosed on the property and took possession in February, said Doug Marrs, vice president of operations. The owner, Carolyn Jean Jones, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in October 2003.

The bank is investing $300,000 to remodel the restaurant space; a December opening is planned.

“That’s a real good location for us. We have a substantial customer base on the north side, and the two branches we already have over there are close to capacity,” Marrs said.

The central location on Kearney should help alleviate traffic congestion at the bank’s 1607 W. Kearney and 2562 N. Glenstone branches, particularly during peak periods like Friday afternoons, Marrs said.

Great Southern is its own general contractor for the project; Hood Rich Inc. Architects and Engineers is designing it. Marrs said that the branch will hire between eight and 12 people.

When operational, the new 2,200-square-foot Kearney branch will be the bank’s 12th Springfield location. As of Oct. 11, Great Southern had $1.78 billion in total assets, Marrs said.

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