Gateway Plaza is nearing completion at Cary and Ninth streets. Photos by Evelyn Rupert.
The newest bank in town wants a front-and-center seat in Richmond.
TowneBank, which entered the market earlier this year through its acquisition of Franklin Federal Savings Bank, has a plan in the works to open a branch in downtown’s newest tower.
The $6 billion bank is working on securing space on the ground floor of Gateway Plaza, an 18-story office building rising on Cary Street between Eighth and Ninth streets.
The bank, according to a legal notice, plans to submit an application with the FDIC for permission to open a branch at 120 S. Ninth St. It also filed a similar request with the Virginia State Corporation Commission.
TowneBank CEO Bob Aston confirmed that the bank does intend to have a branch in Gateway Plaza but said it is too soon to comment on specific plans for the site.
Larry Chapman, a principal with Gateway Plaza’s developer Clayco, said he could not comment on TowneBank coming into the building.
It would be TowneBank’s first newly built branch in the local market since its entrance here at the first of the year.
TowneBank’s purchase of Franklin Federal included an instant foothold of eight branches in the area, but neither bank has had a presence downtown.
The bank would be at least the third tenant for Gateway Plaza, which is headed toward completion later this year. McGuireWoods is signed on as the anchor tenant with 205,000 square feet. Bill Goodwin’s CCA Industries is leasing about 25,000 square feet. The building is planned to have 307,000 square feet total.
Plans for the $124 million tower, as of last summer, called for about 14,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space that would rent at about $30 per square foot.
“We’re fast and furiously finishing up site work now,” Chapman said, adding that McGuireWoods will likely begin moving people into the building in May.
“It should be fully occupied and operational by July or early August,” he said.
Gateway Plaza is nearing completion at Cary and Ninth streets. Photos by Evelyn Rupert.
The newest bank in town wants a front-and-center seat in Richmond.
TowneBank, which entered the market earlier this year through its acquisition of Franklin Federal Savings Bank, has a plan in the works to open a branch in downtown’s newest tower.
The $6 billion bank is working on securing space on the ground floor of Gateway Plaza, an 18-story office building rising on Cary Street between Eighth and Ninth streets.
The bank, according to a legal notice, plans to submit an application with the FDIC for permission to open a branch at 120 S. Ninth St. It also filed a similar request with the Virginia State Corporation Commission.
TowneBank CEO Bob Aston confirmed that the bank does intend to have a branch in Gateway Plaza but said it is too soon to comment on specific plans for the site.
Larry Chapman, a principal with Gateway Plaza’s developer Clayco, said he could not comment on TowneBank coming into the building.
It would be TowneBank’s first newly built branch in the local market since its entrance here at the first of the year.
TowneBank’s purchase of Franklin Federal included an instant foothold of eight branches in the area, but neither bank has had a presence downtown.
The bank would be at least the third tenant for Gateway Plaza, which is headed toward completion later this year. McGuireWoods is signed on as the anchor tenant with 205,000 square feet. Bill Goodwin’s CCA Industries is leasing about 25,000 square feet. The building is planned to have 307,000 square feet total.
Plans for the $124 million tower, as of last summer, called for about 14,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space that would rent at about $30 per square foot.
“We’re fast and furiously finishing up site work now,” Chapman said, adding that McGuireWoods will likely begin moving people into the building in May.
“It should be fully occupied and operational by July or early August,” he said.