First State Bank Construction Begins
7 August 2007
Taken from courierpress.com

First State Bank will mark the start of construction on its new full-service bank and Evansville headquarters with a celebration at the proposed site, 7325 E. Virginia St., at 10:30 a.m., Aug. 14.

The site is located in the heart of Cross Pointe Commerce Center, near the Vanderburgh-Warrick County Line on Evansville's East Side.

Estimated to cost $2.2 million, the project is due for completion in the first quarter of 2008, bank officials said.

The new facilities will provide 7,000 square feet of space, according to Van Douglass, First State's community president.

First State's entrance is expected to face Virginia Street while a conference room — with a raised patio — will be featured near the rear of the building overlooking a fountain and lake that is shared by property owners of the area.

The patio will be available for community events, according to bank officials.

First State's initial plan called for a partial second floor — with 4,000 square feet of space — to be available for leasing. The second floor has since been eliminated, Douglass said.

The Evansville-based architectural firm of Hafer Associates PC and Wilkie Structural Engineers Inc., Peyronnin Construction and Regency Properties are heading up the project.

Douglass described the building location as one of the city's key growth corridors. "We look forward to the opportunity to help even more customers meet their financial service needs there," he said.

The bank has outgrown its present main location at 1010 W. Buena Vista Road, off First Avenue. That location will remain open as a banking center once the new facilities are completed.

The new facilities will be managed by Phil Offerman, an assistant vice president with First State who is presently based at the bank's loan production office at 5401 Vogel Road, Douglass said.

First State Bank (formerly First National), has been operating in Evansville since January 2003. Its parent company is First Eldorado Bancshares, a bank-holding company based in Eldorado, Ill.

First State also owns undeveloped acreage next to the new Welborn Clinic on Pearl Court, off Boehne Camp Road, on the city's West Side. The bank is expected to have a banking center built at the location in the future.