Unified Bank Plans To Enter Wheeling Market
Eric Ayres Trending
Unified Bank plans to not only to open its first Wheeling location next year, it plans to introduce its first Interactive Teller Machines or ITMs in conjunction with the opening of a new building on National Road.
Officials from Unified Bank attended Monday night's meeting of the Wheeling Planning Commission to review plans for the new facility along U.S. 40 on the property currently occupied by the vacant A.C. Buffet building near CVS Pharmacy in Woodsdale.
Last year, the property owner had been working with a national coffee chain to open a new location with an extended drive-through on this same site, but the deal with that development fell through. Officials on Monday night indicated that changes in the grade from the front of the property to the back would require a significant amount of investment in site preparation.
Although the deal with the national coffee chain -- which was Starbucks -- fell through, the city had granted not only site plan approval but also a needed zone change from R-A1 Residential to C-2 Commercial on adjacent property along Leatherwood Lane. The property owners continued to market the site, and Unified Bank came forward with its proposal.
"This will be our first one in Wheeling -- our second in West Virginia," said Scott Everson, president and CEO of Unified Bank, noting that the growing financial institution has a location in Moundsville and several in Eastern Ohio, but none in the Friendly City. "We've been trying to get here for years -- we have a strong clientele over here in Wheeling. So we're very happy about this opportunity."
According to Michael Takacs of Pittsburgh-based firm Bohler Engineering, representing property owners the McDermott family of Kellbenn Inc., the proposed Unified Bank financial center will include a new two-story building near National Road in the area approximately where the front lot of the A.C. Buffet building is currently situated. The buffet building, as well as a vacant residence and garage toward the rear of the property, are expected to be demolished.
"We are picking up significant green space," Takacs said, noting that a three-lane ITM facility -- an advanced remote teller system -- will be constructed along the south end of the property away from the building and its rear parking lots. "It will have advanced features. There are no tubes connected to the bank -- it is all remote."
There will be stormwater management included as part of the plan, and the curb cuts along National Road will be reduced from four to just one centralized access point, officials said. Parking on the bank part of the lot will be reconfigured, but the CVS parking lot will remain pretty much the same.
Everson said the building will include a retail area on the lower level with traditional tellers and supervisors, while the upper levels will include offices in a commercial banking center.
"This is going to be more like a regional banking center for us," Everson said, noting that Unified's headquarters will remain in Martins Ferry. "We're growing to the point where we need more office space."
The ITM system will be a first for Unified Bank. Users of the ITM lanes will be able to cash a check, make deposits or do almost everything a customer can do in a traditional drive-through bank window. Transactions can be self-service or completed with assistance from actual tellers at a remote location during regular business hours for now - and possibly expanded hours in the future.
"You see a lot in the bigger cities -- it's kind of the direct wave of the future," Everson said. "It's kind of like an ATM on steroids."
Planning Commission members approved the site plan for the proposed development. Everson said architectural work, demolition and site preparation will take place in the coming months, with construction and a grand opening of the new facility expected next year.