The Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank will relocate its Chilmark branch office next year to the former Santander Bank at Beetlebung Corner.
Bank president Paul Falvey told the Gazette Monday that the savings bank will replace the existing branch in Chilmark, now situated in a leased building around the corner.
The bank paid $1.006 million for the building. Santander, headquartered in Vineyard Haven, closed its Chilmark branch at the end of May. Mr. Falvey said it presented an opportunity for his bank, which put in a bid and won. “It makes perfect sense to us,” he told the Gazette by telephone Monday.
The target for opening is April 2016.
Over the winter, Chilmark town officials discussed purchasing the building to house a new town public safety building to house the Tri-Town Ambulance Service and the Chilmark fire department.
This winter the property was assessed at $576,800.
Mr. Falvey said the bank plans to spend about half a million dollars to renovate the new location, including adding a drive-up window and a drive-up ATM. “All convenient features that the customers love, so we’re happy to providing that,” he said. The new location also offers more parking and easier access, he added.
Renovations will likely begin in the fall, Mr. Falvey said. The existing branch will remain open until the new one is ready to open, and then the two will be consolidated into the new branch. While plans are still in early stages, Mr. Falvey said they expect to have the same staff that already work in Chilmark at the new branch.
“We really are happy to be able to do that for Chilmark,” Mr. Falvey said. “Larger banks aren’t going to serve these communities like that, buy the facility, refurbish it . . . that’s what you get from community banks, but particularly Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank.”
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