Downtown Milwaukee’s banking market will have some new players in 2003, as Ozaukee Bank has preliminary plans to open a branch at 225 E. Mason St.
The bank filed an application for the new location Oct. 30 with the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions.
Ozaukee Bank became the second bank that month to announce plans to open a downtown Milwaukee branch. On Oct. 9, Merchants & Manufacturers Bancorp (MMBC), Milwaukee, applied to open a private banking center at 1000 N. Water St. in early 2003. According to MMBC president Conrad Kaminski, it will not be the bank holding company’s first location downtown.
"We have had an office downtown, not a retail office, but a loan processing office, for four years," Kaminski said. "We have so many customers in this area that it would be advantageous to be able to bank at this location."
MMBC’s downtown branch, which is currently being built out for a planned opening in January, will include a Lincoln State Bank retail location, as well as space devoted to serving MMBC’s commercial banking. The space was previously occupied by Milwaukee Metropolitan Credit Union, which moved to an adjacent spot in the 1000 N. Water St. building to make room for Lincoln State Bank.
All customers of MMBC-member banks, including Lincoln State Bank, Franklin State Bank, Lincoln Savings Bank, Grafton State Bank and Fortress Group, will be able to bank at the new downtown location.
The density of business clients in the downtown is the driving factor for opening new branches in the city, according to Kaminski and Ozaukee Bank president Dean Fitting.
"The primary factor is that we have a lot of customers in Milwaukee," Fitting said, describing the bank’s plans as very preliminary. "It means taking care of that customer base we have already established. … It is central to our Milwaukee County customer base. Of course, a lot of our referral sources – attorneys and accountants – are located there as well. We have a lot of professionals that live here in Ozaukee County and work in downtown Milwaukee."
Ozaukee Bank still needs to identify someone to manage the downtown office, according to Fitting, who said the process could take as long as a year.
The Mason Street facility formerly housed the office of Meridian Capital Bank, which was closed after Wells Fargo Bank purchased Meridian Capital.
Both Fitting and Kaminski characterized their interest in the downtown as a way to follow customers, rather than an attempt to expand into a new geographic area.
"We have talked with our customers a lot," Kaminski said. "Many of them either have a business or are housed downtown. With the boom that has taken place on Water Street and the condos and other businesses, well, we have always followed our customers wherever they are. When they moved from 13th and Lincoln to the southwest suburbs, we followed them as they moved out to that area."
"It is really more from the standpoint of our customer base, rather than looking at a new area to develop," Fitting said.
Ozaukee Bank is based in Ozaukee County, with offices in Cedarburg, Mequon, Port Washington, Theinsville and Grafton.
Dec. 20, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
