The Herd: New Hires & Promotions for 3.17.10

Socialite/Reality TV
Former Richmonder and New York Socialite Tinsley Mortimer (who was on the cover of a Virginia Living magazine) is in a new reality TV show on the CW called “High Society”. You can read a not-so-complimentary review here.

Technology:
Les Venable has joined local computer support firm The HelpDesk Company as a senior sales representative. Venable, a graduate of Morgan State University, was most recently at Electronic Systems.

Legal / Public Relations:
Andy Poarch joined the Alliance Group as VP for Communications. Poarch, who studied at UVA for both his undergraduate and law degrees, was previously an attorney at Hunton & Williams. Read more

Green building and adaptive reuse under one roof

Developers love talking about historic tax credits and green building, but the two are not so easy to combine in the same project.

Developer David Gammino is giving it a whirl with the renovation of 408 N. 3rd street, which he is turning into an 18,000-square-foot apartment building with indoor parking.

The building will have 15 one- and two-bedroom units. Gammino said the building should be ready to lease in the spring.

Rent starts at $900 a month. Read more

A whole new look

Yesterday we reported that First Market Bank and Union Bank & Trust will merge into one bank called Union First Market Bank. That merger was approved by shareholders Monday. The holding company will be called “Union First Market Bankshares Corporation.”

Now BizSense has learned a few more details on how that will play out, including a new branch north of Richmond.

The bank will spend around $10 million combining the two operations. Much of that sum goes to legal and accounting fees, according to SEC filings.

The signs and marketing materials will be changed over by the end of February, said William Beale, the president & CEO at Union Bankshares and the future CEO of the new merged banks. Not all the signs will be changed at the same time, however.

“We have to work through each of the municipalities and through their sign ordinances,” Beale said. “Some take longer than others.”

Beale said the entire process could take six months but that the sign company had the logos a while ago.

He also said the bank has not decided whether to close any duplicate branches,  or which branches those could possibly be. But he said the bank plans to build a branch in Stafford County that could be open in late 2010.

Aaron Kremer is the BizSense editor and covers banking. Please send news tips to Editor@richmondbizsense.com.

Merged banks get new name/logo

First Market Bank and Union Bankshares, which are merging, have a new name and logo, which was shown to employees this morning.

The new holding company will likely be Union First Market Bankshares. Judging from the logo, people will probably shorten that in common use to “Union.”

A source inside the company said that the name will take effect in February and that the branches of both banks will get the new name.

Despite repeated phone calls, BizSense was unable to reach a company representative for comment or confirmation.

Putting two banks together doesn’t come cheap

Putting two companies together can be costly.

Union Bankshares, the parent holding company of Union Bank & Trust, will spend almost $10 million in coming quarters to consummate its acquisition of First Market Bank.

The cost of blending the two companies into one will be about $10.8 million. About $948,000 has been spent so far, much of it on legal fees. Read more

First Market Bank cuts ‘duplicate’ jobs

A total of 50 employees from First Market Bank and Union Bank and Trust have been given their walking papers.

In March, Union Bankshares purchased First Market for about$100 million in stock. (You can read dabout that deal here.)

William Beale, president and chief executive of Union Bankshares, said the recent job cuts are likely all the jobs that will be eliminated as part of the acquisition of First Market. The combined bank will have about 900 employees.

“Everybody having a status change has been notified,” said Beale. “Some will be retained until the end of the year and some well into the first quarter of next year.”

He said the personnel cuts are part of a 9 percent reduction in overhead achieved by combining the two banks. Most of the savings will be from eliminating duplicated contracts with vendors, he said.

The two banks are in the process of merging into one, which is expected to be complete in February. The name of the bank to be has not been announced.

Katie Gilstrap, director of marketing at First Market, said the job cuts were primarily in areas where there was “duplication in function.”

Gilstrap said most of the cuts are located at the First Market operations center at 2001 Maywill St. near Staples Mill Road. There were also handful of cuts at the Shockoe Bottom headquarters.

Jobs were cut in data processing, deposit operations, accounting and other back-office functions. While most of the cuts were concentrated at the operations center, a few employees from human resources, marketing and retail and commercial banking were let go as well, a few of which are employees of Union Bank and Trust.

There is a chance some of the workers may be reemployed.

“All displaced teammates will be considered to be internal applicants for future job postings at either bank or the combined bank,” Gilstrap said.

Gilstrap said eventually the Richmond operations center will be closed and consolidated with the Union Bank and Trust operations center in Carmel Church, which is in Caroline County.

Al Harris is a BizSense reporter. Please send news tips to Al@richmondbizsense.com.

CenterStage, Inc.

The new downtown performing arts venue, Richmond CenterStage, opened with a lot of fanfare this weekend, selling out the almost 1,800 seats for its first performance.

The theater complex is funded by a combination of public and private donations, but a large share of it is funded by donations from Richmond-based corporations including Dominion, Altria and MeadWestvaco. Read more

Fitness club gets pumped up

Robious Sports & Fitness Club will be getting a new owner and a million-dollar upgrade.

Boxwood, a Richmond-based merchant bank, purchased the 20-year-old club from CJW Medical Center for an undisclosed price. CJW is a part of the Hospital Corporation of America.

First Market Bank provided the financing. In 2009, Chesterfield County assessed the land and buildings — on Koger road behind the Chesterfield Towne Center mall — at $7.4 million.

Boxwood is in the process of hiring a firm to design a master plan, which will call for $1 million to $1.5 million in renovations to the facility. Read more

Union Bankshares to sell $62.5 million in stock

Bowling Green-based Union Bankshares announced Tuesday that it intends to sell $62.5 million in new stock.

Union Bankshares is the holding company of Union Bank and Trust, and has a pending merger agreement to acquire Richmond-based First Market Bank for 7.5 million shares of common stock.

“We want to put ourselves in a position to support future growth and the dislocation of customers that will come from some of the large banks to the combined Union Bank and First Market entity,” said G. William Beale, president and CEO of Union Bankshares. Read more

Union Bank & Trust closes branch in Short Pump

Union Bank & Trust, based in Bowling Green, recently closed the doors of its Pouncey Tract Road location.

President and chief executive John Neal said that the lease was coming due and that, with another branch less than a mile away, it made sense to close down the branch. Read more

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