Chase Branch Downtown to Vacate Grand Banking Hall
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The downtown Chase branch will reduce its space on the ground floor by a third and vacate the remainder of its address, 6 W. Federal St., contractors said Tuesday morning.
It will abandon the two-story grand banking hall with marble counters and with mosaics high on the walls that depict great Americans and scenes of early Americana.
About a year ago, the Chase closed its office in downtown Warren.
Timothy R. Meseck, vice president with The Architects Partnership Ltd., Chicago, and Brian D. Ingram, construction manager with Jones Lang LaSalle, Philadelphia, outlined the plans before the city Design Review Committee.
The committee approved plans to install new double doors on the eastern side of the building that faces Wick Avenue that will become the sole entrance. Workmen will install permanent awnings over the doorway and the through-the-wall ATM a few feet away.
“Right now they [Chase] have a lot more space than they need in that building,” Meseck said. In addition to the ground floor space, Chase leased the second floor and part of the third floor and basement.
“The existing employees would be maintained, to the best of my knowledge,” he added.
The branch will consolidate into 2,800 square feet on first-floor space nearest Wick Avenue, Ingram said. As part of the project, the bank will install new signage and remove the signage over the West Federal Street and Wick Avenue entrances.
Once all the approvals are in place, the $1.3 million project should take 14 to 16 weeks to complete, Ingram said.
The bank and its predecessors have had a presence in the building since its construction in 1925, Bill Lawson, executive director of the Mahoning Valley Historical Society, said. The building was originally known as the First National Bank Building in 1925.
It went on to become Union National Bank, then Bank One and later Chase Bank, part of the JPMorgan Chase & Co.
JPMorgan Chase has assets of more than $2.3 trillion, making it the largest bank holding company in the United States. It has more than 5,000 branches.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
