New Norfolk location pays off in more deposits for Monarch

NORFOLK

Monarch Bank, which moved its downtown branch to the World Trade Center in mid-September, said the new location's heightened visibility has already generated increased deposits and greater loan demand.

Its new branch, at the eastern end of the curved office building on Main Street, has $90 million of deposits, said Neal Crawford, president of Chesapeake-based Monarch, on Thursday. That's up from $78 million its previous downtown branch, a block away at Boush and Plume streets, had at the end of June.

The departure of Wachovia Bank, now part of Wells Fargo, from the World Trade Center to the Wells Fargo Center on Monticello Avenue opened up an opportunity for Monarch to relocate. Wachovia merged with Wells Fargo at year-end 2008, and the consolidation of its Virginia operations into Wells Fargo was completed in August.

Monarch sought space in the World Trade Center earlier this year when its lease on space in the Town Point Center building came up for renewal, Crawford said.

Monarch occupies about the same amount of space, about 5,000 square feet, in the new branch as it did in Town Point Center, Crawford said. The bank also has the same number of employees, about 13, in the new branch.

Tom Shean, (757) 446-2379, tom.shean@pilotonline.com