High Plains Bank opening Keenesburg, northwest Longmont branches

LONGMONT —  Flagler-based High Plains Bank on Tuesday opened a temporary location in Keenesburg and will open its second Longmont branch a week later.

Each full-service location will have five employees, said Christopher McVay, the bank’s Longmont market president. The 1,632-square-foot Keenesburg branch, at 165 N. Market St. Unit B, has a branch manager, market president, customer-service representative, business-development officer and loan processor. The 1,400-square-foot Longmont office, at 2318 17th Ave., Unit D, in The Plaza at 17th and Hover, will open Tuesday with two teller positions, an account-services specialist, a loan processor and an information-technology specialist. Both locations will offer both consumer and business accounts and loans.

The bank has acquired tracts of land for permanent buildings in both areas, McVay said, but definite plans are in place only for a site in the Keenesburg Business Park, just north of the Keenesburg interchange on Interstate 76. “We plan to build a permanent location there within the next 18 to 24 months,” McVay said.

High Plains Bank planned the new northwest Longmont branch to be temporary because it also closed in February on the $325,000 purchase of a vacant 23,416-square-foot parcel just to the east, at 2306 17th Ave., and intended to break ground in 2022 on a permanent bank with drive-through lanes there.

Changing needs brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have put that project on hold, McVay said. “We are holding it for future development,” he said. “For now, we’re assessing what the needs are for this part of town. With the way technology is changing, are we going to need a multiple-lane drive-through? Are we going to need more offices?”

The bank has a downtown Longmont branch at 600 Kimbark St. “In nine years, we’ve expanded our staffing in Longmont from two people to 27 people,” McVay said. “As we grow, we’re evaluating what our future needs are, with what’s happening in banking.”

The vacant Longmont parcel was purchased from LRAN Properties LLC, which also owns the strip mall where the bank is leasing space for the branch that will open Tuesday. That plaza’s tenants include Mama Roni’s Pizza and locations of Starbucks Coffee and a Jimmy John’s sandwich shop. The bank will open in a space that had been a children’s tutoring and education center. 

High Plains Bank’s other locations are at 502 Central Ave. in Wiggins, 235 S. Ash St. in Bennett and 329 Main Ave. in Flagler.

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