Country Bank Strengthens Its Presence in Springfield
Down on Main Street
Mary McGovern says Country Bank has been looking to create a stronger presence in downtown Springfield for at least five years now.
The institution, which has a lending office on the 17th floor of Tower Square, has considered several sites for a banking center with strong visibility, she said, including the space in Monarch Place that would eventually become home to the corporate offices of New Valley Bank.
“We were looking strongly at that site, but we were beaten out for it,” she said, adding that other players were as well.
Undeterred, the Ware-based bank kept looking in Springfield while shifting its immediate focus to Worcester and establishing a stronger presence there (Country now has three locations in that city), said McGovern, the bank’s president. But the search in Springfield entered a new phase late last year with a call from Evan Plotkin, co-owner of the 1350 Main St. tower.
That call concerned the long-vacant space last occupied by Santander Bank, and … fast-forwarding a little, this large space will soon be sporting a Country Bank sign.
The bank’s move into that large, ground-floor location, likely to happen in the third quarter of this year after a comprehensive build-out, will give Country a much more visible presence downtown and, by that time, its second banking center in the western part of Hampden County. Indeed, the bank is finalizing a lease on a space in Longmeadow close to the Enfield line, said McGovern, adding that expansion in this region has emerged as one of the bank’s key strategic initiatives.