A Northern Virginia-based bank has been cleared for landing in the Richmond market.
Strasburg-based First Bank received approval last month from state and federal regulators to open a branch at 5601 Patterson Ave. in the West End, its first outpost in the region.
The $735 million bank is reviving the 3,100-square-foot property left vacant in March by Park Sterling Bank. It signed a lease for the space this summer.
CEO Scott Harvard, who grew up in Richmond and worked in the same building when it was a Virginia Federal Savings and Loan location, said the new branch should be operational in the third quarter.
“We’re still working on signage and doing some work inside and getting permits related to all that,” he said.
It would be the bank’s 15th branch statewide, joining spots in Winchester, Strasburg, Front Royal, Harrisonburg, Staunton and Waynesboro. First Bank began expanding east in the state two years ago with the acquisition of several Bank of America branches that put it in markets like Farmville.
Harvard, who was previously head of the former Shore Bank on the Eastern Shore, said First Bank primarily will go after small business and consumer customers in Richmond.
The bank is owned by its publicly traded holding company First National Corp. It reported net income of $1.8 million in the second quarter, up from $1.4 million in the same period last year.
A Northern Virginia-based bank has been cleared for landing in the Richmond market.
Strasburg-based First Bank received approval last month from state and federal regulators to open a branch at 5601 Patterson Ave. in the West End, its first outpost in the region.
The $735 million bank is reviving the 3,100-square-foot property left vacant in March by Park Sterling Bank. It signed a lease for the space this summer.
CEO Scott Harvard, who grew up in Richmond and worked in the same building when it was a Virginia Federal Savings and Loan location, said the new branch should be operational in the third quarter.
“We’re still working on signage and doing some work inside and getting permits related to all that,” he said.
It would be the bank’s 15th branch statewide, joining spots in Winchester, Strasburg, Front Royal, Harrisonburg, Staunton and Waynesboro. First Bank began expanding east in the state two years ago with the acquisition of several Bank of America branches that put it in markets like Farmville.
Harvard, who was previously head of the former Shore Bank on the Eastern Shore, said First Bank primarily will go after small business and consumer customers in Richmond.
The bank is owned by its publicly traded holding company First National Corp. It reported net income of $1.8 million in the second quarter, up from $1.4 million in the same period last year.