Evansville, Indiana-based Old National Bank plans to establish its main Milwaukee region office on the 6,500-square-foot top floor of the office building at 788 N. Jefferson St. on downtown Milwaukee’s Cathedral Square.
“It is our initial main office for our Milwaukee region,” said Kevin Anderson, Milwaukee region president for Old National. “We certainly wanted to make sure we were sitting in basically the heart of the central business district.”
The bank will also have a branch office in a 1,200-square-foot space on the first floor. It is currently partially occupied by Dogg Haus, which is moving down the street.
Old National will have signage at the top of the nine-story building, and at street level. The office and branch, which are both undergoing extensive renovation, are expected to open in the fourth quarter, Anderson said.
About 20 employees will work in the ninth floor office space, most of whom are existing officers of the bank, including Anderson. The commercial banking, treasury and commercial real estate teams will be based in the office. Another five to eight employees will staff the branch, which will offer personal and commercial banking, investment and wealth management services, he said.
“Part of our business model is that when we go into metropolitan markets, we tend to utilize a different model for our banking centers. It’s more attuned to the business community,” Anderson said. “There will be no teller lines; it will be more of a concierge type of service.”
Old National entered the Milwaukee market in 2016 with the $461 million acquisition of Madison-based Anchor BanCorp Wisconsin Inc. Old National has 202 total branches, 39 of which are in Wisconsin.
“Old National had made a commitment to the Milwaukee business community (that) once we were fully settled and integrated into the community, we would have a downtown presence and a downtown banking center for our clients to come in and do business with us,” Anderson said.
With the new branch opening, Old National will have five branches in the Milwaukee area. This is the only branch that will open in southeastern Wisconsin in 2018, Anderson said.
“Our decisions on our banking centers will really be predicated on our ability to continue to grow in Milwaukee, and also what we feel meets the needs of our growing client base,” he said. “We will re-evaluate that annually.”
