New Carlisle bank invests $2M to fill years-long vacant lot in Springfield

A new branch of the New Carlisle Federal Savings Bank will soon fill a years-long vacant lot on North Limestone Street.

The new 5,500 square-foot location between Ridge Road and Third Street, a former Key Bank lot, will begin construction within the next 60 days, said Brian Smith, president of NCF. Including the land purchase, Smith expects the more than $2 million investment to open in late 2019.

The convenience of the site was the selling point of the expansion, pushing talks of another branch to reality, Smith said. The Villa Road location, while successful, is located in a neighborhood area where traffic travels before the bank opens and as its close to closing.

But the new location right outside of downtown Springfield will be easier access during the business day.

»RELATED: How much credit card debt did you add this holiday? The average $1.2K

“This is an exciting time of redevelopment in Springfield, and we are thrilled that New Carlisle Federal is a part of these revitalization efforts,” said Springfield city manager Jim Bodenmiller.

The branch will bring six to eight full-time jobs, along with contract work for other local companies who will work on construction. There’s also potential for a retail space on the end of the building, Smith said.

"Wdon't have our bids on the building yetbut we will use local contractors. Walways use customers of the bank amuch as possible," Smith said.

Springfield sign and embroidery company MacRay has already worked on the expansion, which includes the first full re-brand in more than 50 years. Members of NCF can expect to see MacRay’s work in changes to logos and overall look of the more than 135-year-old bank, said Jordan Tyler, marketing and community development manager of the bank.

»BIZ BEAT: JCPenney planning store closures

“This is really big for our bank, especially only having three locations and going to a fourth,” Tyler said. “This brand launch is really to start moving us in the direction of growth.”

There could be more expansion as the banks continue to grow. There’s plenty of room to expand in its current markets, where assets have grown quickly in the last three years, Smith said. The last new branch was the Tipp City branch in 2001. Springfield opened in 1997.

The re-brand includes dropping New Carlisle Federal from the name in place of simplified NCF Savings Bank.

“Several people didn’t know we were in Springfield,” Smith said. “As successful as we’ve been, there would be many times you would set an appointment with somebody and they would say, ‘Okay, I’ll be at your office,’ and they would show up in New Carlisle when they were trying to be in Springfield.”

There are locations on Villa Road in Springfield, North Main Street in New Carlisle and South County Road 25-A in Tipp City.

There will also be a new NCF monogram taking the place of the old bank symbol and a new tagline: “Local. Not Limited.”

“We are using this moving forward because it defines who we are. Through this re-brand and growth of our bank, we will still be the community-focused local bank that all of our customers and the community loves, but we are not limited in our capabilities of what we can offer,” Tyler said.

FIVE FAST READS

• Lowes to hire for jobs at local stores; need 65K nationally

• 10 changes coming to local shopping venues in 2019

• 5 outbreaks, food-related illnesses that impacted Ohio in 2018

10 new flights added at local airports in 2018

• Local experts: Avoid New Year’s resolution scams, read the fine print

About the Author