Santander Bank will close two of its four branches on Martha’s Vineyard before the end of the year, including the historic stone bank on Main street Vineyard Haven, a spokesman has confirmed.
The branch in downtown Edgartown will close Nov. 17 and the stone bank in Vineyard Haven will close by Dec. 1, bank spokesman Ann E. Davis told the Gazette in an email Tuesday. Bank customers were notified of the branch closings in a letter last week.
In a statement, the bank described the closures as a consolidation. All employees will be retained at the two remaining bank branches, one on upper Main street Edgartown and another in Oak Bluffs. Santander closed its Chilmark branch in May 2015.
“We routinely review our branch network to make sure we are optimizing our resources and this consolidation makes good sense for both our customers and our business,” the statement said in part.
The bank is currently involved in a superior court dispute with the Martha’s Vineyard Commission over the roof at the stone bank, a historic building. The red tile roof was replaced with asphalt shingles late last year before town officials realized the project required review by the MVC as a development of regional impact (DRI). Following public hearings this spring, the commission voted to require the bank to replace the asphalt shingles with historically correct red tiles.
The bank is appealing the decision in court, Ms. Davis confirmed this week. “Because this matter is currently in the courts, we are not able to comment further,” she said in the email.
Information was not immediately available about the number of customers Santander serves on Martha’s Vineyard.
Headquartered in Boston, Santander is a wholly owned subsidiary of Banco Santander, an international banking company. Its operation in the Northeast has $54.7 billion in deposits and employs 9,800 people, according to its website.
On the Vineyard it competes with the Martha’s Vineyard Savings Bank, Rockland Trust, which recently acquired the Edgartown National Bank, and Cape Cod Five Cents, which now operates a full service branch on the Island.
Ms. Davis said Santander has consolidated other branches in the commonwealth, including in Lowell and Hanover.
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