Bristol County Savings Bank (BCSB) celebrated a ceremonial groundbreaking yesterday at the future site of its eleventh banking office and first in the city. Located at the corner of Ashley Blvd. and Tacoma St. (former site of Thad's Restaurant), the new 3,500 s/f branch will feature a modern, wood clapboard exterior similar to the look of the bank's Dartmouth office, two drive-through lanes, a drive through ATM, a café, a coin machine and, common to all its banking offices and part of its corporate identity, an exterior standing clock. The branch, to open mid-year 2010, will bring more than 200 construction jobs to the area and create approximately eight permanent positions.
Dennis Kelly, Jr., president and chief executive officer of Bristol County Savings Bank, as well as Scott Lang, mayor of the city of New Bedford, participated in the speaking portion of the program. Patrick Murray, Jr., executive vice president, treasurer and chief operating officer at BCSB; Leonard Sullivan, executive vice president and senior loan officer with BCSB; Todd Carson, architect with DRL Associates; D.P. (Mickey) Higgins, Jr., owner of South Coast Development, LLC; and James Burgess, manager and member, The Ashley Boulevard Place, LLC, among others, joined the ceremonial groundbreaking which featured hard hats and shovels displaying the bank's logo and hunter green and gold corporate colors.
In the face of the state's struggling economy, mayor Lang is encouraged the city is attracting strong, community-based businesses like Bristol County Savings Bank to the area. "We sincerely appreciate Bristol County Savings Bank's substantial financial investment in building a full-service branch in the North end of the City of New Bedford. We look forward to another successful community partner in our city," said mayor Lang.
"We certainly appreciate the support and encouragement from mayor Lang and all of the city's other officials as we went through this process. We're extremely excited about coming to New Bedford," said Kelly. "For more than 160 years, we've taken pride in being a community-focused bank and we look forward to building new, strong local partnerships in the Greater New Bedford area."
Bristol County Savings Bank, through its charitable foundation, is an active supporter in the communities in which it serves. Since 2007, the Bristol County Savings Charitable Foundation has donated approximately $200,000 to 18 different organizations in the South Coast Region. As further evidence of its commitment to future community partnerships in the Greater New Bedford area, the Bank presented grants to six local non-profits totaling $47,460 at the groundbreaking: Good Sports, Inc. ($5,000); Immigrants' Assistant Center, Inc. ($4,000); Old Dartmouth Historical Society-New Bedford Whaling Museum ($5,460); Our Sister's School ($20,000); Shore Support ($10,000); and the YWCA of Southeastern Massachusetts ($3,000).