File photo / Tim Greenway
Jeanne Hulit is president and CEO of Maine Community Bank.
Updated: December 9, 2021
Maine Community Bank expanding Brunswick footprint with Mechanics Savings branch
Courtesy / Maine Community Bank
Maine Community Bank is currently constructing a new full-service branch of Mechanics Savings Bank in the Cooks Corner area of Brunswick. The building is about 50% completed, with a target opening of Feb. 22, 2022.
Maine Community Bank, formed last year from a merger between Biddeford Savings and Mechanics Savings banks under a single charter, is expanding in Brunswick via a move from downtown to Cooks Corner.
"It's a really growing part of the state with a significant amount of commercial development and a significant amount of residential development," Jeanne Hulit, president and CEO of Maine Community Bank, said by phone on Thursday.
"We've been there long enough to have deep relationships in the community," she said of Mechanic Savings' loan production office at 16 Station Ave. The office is slated to be closed as a new branch goes up about 6 miles away at the Plaza at Cooks Corner on Gurnet Road. The new branch will be a 3,000-square foot building with a drive-up and parking.
Hulit said that the decision to move was strategic, citing the growth at Brunswick Landing and to be more accessible to midcoast businesses.
"Downtown Brunswick is fabulous and we love it, " she said, "but every bank is on every corner." Cooks Corner "is a great location and very visible."
All five people currently employed at the Station Avenue location will move to the new branch, which Hulit said will add at least one new retail position and possibly two.
The new branch is about 50% built and due to be completed by early next year, with a target opening date of Feb. 22. While Maine Community Bank does not normally discuss costs of building a new branch, the project has an estimated value of more than $2 million.
"We are excited to be in the Cooks Corner area to support the residential and commercial growth occurring at Brunswick Landing," Hulit said, noting that the new branch had been in the works since 2019 but temporarily put on hold during the pandemic. Maine Community Bank has also been focused on building an $8 million operations center in Westbrook.
Around 50 employees of Biddeford and Mechanics savings banks are currently working out of the Westbrook operations center, which opened in October.
"The purpose of the location was really to bring our teams together as a bank that merged two banks with long-term employees," Hulit said. "We wanted to make a commitment to them to not disrupt their lives too much by relocating from Auburn and Biddeford to Westbrook. It's ideal for a commute for people in those two communities."
She also noted that it's a real plus for Maine Community Bank to have a presence across Androscoggin, Cumberland and York counties.
"We wanted to just fill in and support that market, and we feel like our footprint does that," she said. "We're about focusing on utilizing that footprint to its maximum capacity."
At Cooks Corner, Maine Community Bank has a ground lease at the Plaza, whose developer and owner is Jim Howard of Property Management Group LLC, and will own the branch it is building.
The architect is Alpha Architects, a Portland-based firm which also designed the new Bar Harbor Bank branch at Cooks Corner. Bar Harbor Bank opened that branch in November 2020 after closing its doors in nearby Topsham.
Upbeat for 2022
While Maine Community Bank plans no further branch additions in the near future, Hulit said the company would probably upgrade or "refresh" existing branches over the next several years.
On a more general note, Hulit said Maine Community Bank is poised for further growth in the year ahead, saying, "I feel like our commercial businesses are doing well and have gotten through the difficult time and come out on the other side really ready to grow and expand in 2022."
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