The Bank to open Westminster branch

BOULDER – The Bank, Boulder-based since its inception in 1973, plans to jump the Boulder County fence for the first time next August when it breaks ground on a sixth branch in Westminster.

“We just feel that its an attractive growth area particularly in light of the office and commercial space that’s being developed to the north,” Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Dave Gilman said of the plan.

The new Westminster branch will be 5,600 square feet on 1.3 acres on the northeast corner of Church Ranch Road and Wadsworth Boulevard, or about 100th Avenue and Wadsworth.

Notable among the larger commercial developments in that area of Jefferson County are Westmoor Technology Park, where heavy-hitters such as Ball Aerospace & Technologies, Ball Metal Containers and Storage Technology have taken space alongside companies such as Requisite Technology.

As part of its 25th anniversary celebration – and to facilitate its expansion plans in Boulder County and beyond – the former Bank of Boulder changed its name to The Bank in January this year.

“They’ve managed to grow big enough that they’ve gotten bigger than the county,” noted banking expert Michael Goldstein, an assistant professor of finance at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Goldstein said the move across county lines also reflects where the most residential growth is occurring – Westminster is growing by leaps and bounds – and that population, commercial and industrial development in general is occurring faster elsewhere than in Boulder County, likely because of tighter growth restrictions here.

“Hey, if you were a bank, where would you expand?” Goldstein said.

Gilman said The Bank is taking “a regional approach” to growth and that it has plans for other branches beyond the Westminster location, although bank officials think that location will open the earliest.

The Westminster branch will be staffed initially with eight people and is expected to open in February 2001.

The building itself will be patterned after The Bank’s Broomfield, Longmont and Louisville facilities. It will have the same appearance and floor plan as well as five drive-up lanes and one ATM drive-up. The architect is Boulder-based Knudsen Gloss in Boulder.

Neither the terms of the ground lease nor an estimate of construction costs were disclosed by Gilman. He said bank officials have been working on the deal for about nine months.

The Bank has about $350 million in assets – triple what it was three years ago. It has five branches in Boulder County, including two in the city of Boulder.

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