Lebanon
Citizens Bank will close its branch office in Lebanon on Nov. 30 and its branch office in Springfield, Vt., on Nov. 9, a spokeswoman for the Rhode Island-based bank said. The bank also is closing branch offices in Penacook, N.H., and Vergennes, Vt.
The pending closings follow the bank closing its White River Junction branch location 19 months ago.
Like banks everywhere, Citizens Bank is grappling with its customers’ shift to mobile and online banking that is resulting in a sharp decline with in-person lobby transactions, lessening the need for traditional teller services. In recent years, Claremont Savings Bank and the former Lake Sunapee Bank, now Bar Harbor Bank & Trust, have closed low-traffic branches in Cornish Flat and Lebanon.
Citzens Bank’s branch locations in West Lebanon, Claremont and Woodstock will remain open, spokeswoman Megan Griffin said via email. She did not respond to questions regarding whether branch employees in Lebanon and Springfield would be offered positions at other locations.
The Citizen Bank branch at 20 West Park St. in what was formerly called the National Bank Building across the street on the west side of Colburn Park in downtown Lebanon has been a bank location since the building was built as the home of Lebanon Savings Bank in 1893. Citizens Bank took over the branch in 1996 when it acquired the former National Bank of Lebanon’s parent company.
For people who live in Lebanon, the branch’s closing hurts doubly because it follows closely upon the closing of Lebanon Village Marketplace, which saved residents trips to Route 12A in West Lebanon for everyday groceries and supplies.
“First it was the pharmacy (on the Lebanon mall), then it was the market and now it’s the bank,” said Kathleen Blain, a paraeducator with the Lebanon schools who lives with her partner, Scott Knowland, a couple blocks away from the branch and who has been a Citizens Bank customer for more than 30 years.
“We pride ourselves ourselves on being a walkable community, yet we have to drive to 12A,” she said, adding that she’s “old school” and prefers to deposit her checks with a teller because “I like to see where my money goes.”
Her partner, Knowland, who reports on the architect industry for a construction publication, said he has banked with Citizens Bank for “more than 20” years, but is now weighing switching banks as a result of the branch closing.
“I’m not sure I’m going to stay with them if they close,” even though he has “everything with them, my mortgage, checking, savings accounts,” he said, explaining that he’s grown frustrated with the diminishing locations and cutback in hours (the Lebanon branch had eliminated Saturday lobby hours a couple years ago).
The bank’s closing is the second blow to hit the historic four-story office building, which was recently thrown into foreclosure after the building owner’s partner pledged his interest in the building for a loan on which he defaulted.
The foreclosure auction date has been repeatedly postponed and last week was delayed again until Nov. 13, according to notice issued by loan bank’s attorney.
Richard Balagur, who owns the 20 West Park St. building, as well the adjoining Whipple Block building in which Salt hill Pub is located, said Citizens Bank informed him “a couple weeks ago” that it would be shutting its Lebanon branch.
He said he’s already been in “informal discussions” with possible tenants, whom he declined to identify, to occupy the approximately 5,000-square foot ground floor space.
Asked if the foreclosure action — which Balagur said he is fighting in court — would have an impact on the ability to secure a new tenant for the vacated space, Balagur said “it’s hard to tell, but I don’t think so. The bank and the owner have the same interest: we want to get a tenant that is compatible with the downtown area and history of the building.”
Balagur bought the building, which is currently assessed at $1.8 million, in 1998 for $1.25 million.
Bank branch closings have become a routine occurrence since the financial crisis 10 years ago and the subsequent shake-up of the industry caused by technology.
Citizens Bank currently has 1,150 branches in 11 states in the New England, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions, some 50 fewer than it had two years ago. Last year the bank also closed branches in Poultney, Vt., and Castleton, Vt.
In January, CoStar Group, a real estate research and information provider, published a report that found more than 2,000 local bank branches closed in 2017, which it said was 18 percent more than the number of closures in 2016.
Bruce Van Saun, chairman and CEO of Citizens Bank parent company Citizens Financial, told CoStar that the bank is moving aggressively to reduce the size of its local branches.
“There’s a little bit of pruning of the number of locations, but the greater element of that program is trying to take 4,200-square foot branches and turn them into 2,500- or 2,200-square foot branches. I’d say, by 2021, I think we’ll have gone through 50 percent of the branches as the target,” he said.
He added that any savings on rent would be invested into digital banking technologies, which CoStar reported it expects will accelerate the pace of branch closings industrywide in 2018.
John Lippman can be reached at jlippman@vnews.com.
