A bank’s decision to consolidate its Seymour banking centers will leave the city with just two downtown banks, but it won’t mean any job losses.
Officials with Evansville’s Old National Bank announced plans this week to raze its banking center at 1117 E. Tipton St. and build a new one. That building would include space for that center and Old National’s center at 222 W. Second St. in downtown Seymour.
The project is scheduled to begin in October and should be completed in the fall of 2016.
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Ray Eakins, the bank’s market president, said the new facility is evidence of Old National’s long-term commitment to the community, and the bank is confident it can serve the banking needs of all of its clients from the East Tipton Street location.
“We are very early in the process of exploring all of our options to best utilize our downtown building for redevelopment or new ownership,” he said.
The bank employs 11 people in Seymour, and no one will lose a job when the consolidation process is complete, Eakins said.
The downtown banking center, which sits on nearly an acre of land, was built in 1971 and contains a 2,025-square-foot basement and first and second floors, each containing 5,041 square feet. The 7,126-square-foot center at 1117 E. Tipton St. was built in 1961.
The new center will have a more energy-efficient infrastructure and feature several new amenities, including a community room that will be available for local organizations to utilize, expanded drive-thru service and complimentary Internet kiosks.
During construction, Old National will have a modular unit on the building site to continue to serve customers’ banking needs, including an ATM, night drop and drive-thru service.
Old National Bank purchased its two Seymour banking centers in 2013 from Indiana Bank and Trust Co. At that time, Old National Bank also operated a bank in Ewing. The Brownstown office, however, was sold to MainSource Bank this year, and that changeover occurred several weeks ago.
Old National, founded in Evansville in 1834, has $12.1 billion in assets. The company has grown to more than 160 banking centers in Kentucky, Illinois and Michigan and owns Old National Insurance.
The closure of Old National’s downtown center leaves just two banks — JCB and BloomBank, formerly Bloomfield State Bank — with offices downtown. In 2013, PNC Bank closed its downtown banking center at Second and Chestnut streets.