Commerce employees in new digs on Kansas

Seventeen Commerce Bank employees recently closed up shop at the bank's Boonville facility and moved, along with 3,000 safe-deposit boxes, into a brand-new banking and loan center at 2616 N. Kansas Expwy. The new bank opened Sept. 25 and was dedicated Oct. 3.

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|ret|The new $1.2 million bank comprises 5,500 square feet and includes five drive-up teller lanes, two 24-hour ATMs and teller space and offices for financial services representatives and personal and commercial lending staff. Howard Bailey Company was the general contractor for the project and Esterly, Schneider |amp| Associates provided the architectural services. Jerry Tourville, a 25-year Commerce employee, is the vice president and branch manager of the new facility, and moved with the other Commerce employees from the Boonville location.

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|ret|Commerce will continue to operate the drive-up teller lanes at the Boonville facility, but the bank building is now the home of the Assemblies of God Financial Services Group, which has owned the building for about three years and leased part of it to Commerce, according to Commerce's Springfield Region President and Chief Executive Officer Bob Hammerschmidt.

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|ret||quot|(The Boonville location) was a much larger location than what we needed and (Assemblies of God Financial Service Group) needed more space, so we sold it to them and had leased space back from them for about three years ... we had been trying to figure out an appropriate size for that area of town,|quot| Hammerschmidt said.

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|ret|He said the because Commerce's main operations in Springfield were moved from the Boonville location to the East Battlefield location in 1992, the Boonville location had more space than was needed for a branch bank.

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|ret|Hammerschmidt added that the drive-up teller lanes at the Boonville facility were renovated as part of the changes to Commerce's north Springfield operations.

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|ret||quot|We refurbished the inside of the drive-up facility and put some new equipment in and added a security foyer,|quot| he said.

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|ret|The Boonville location had served as the main bank since the early 1960s, Hammerschmidt said. He said Commerce considered building a location at the corner of Benton and Division after it sold the Boonville location to the Assemblies of God three years ago, but the area's neighborhood association opposed the facility because of the neighborhood's historical significance.

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|ret||quot|We went back and did some research with our commercial customers and looked at where they were located in the city. We decided that we needed to be right in the middle of where they were at, and put our finger down at Kansas Expressway and Talmage on the map we had,|quot| Hammerschmidt said. |quot|We went out to that area and there was a Rankin (|amp| Company LLC) sign.|quot|

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|ret|The Assemblies of God Financial Services Group, which employs 110 and is the umbrella organization under which several Assemblies of God financial organizations operate, has major changes planned for the former bank. After the renovations are complete, the group's organizations will be in a centralized location for the first time, according to Sally Hill, human resources director for the financial services group.

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|ret|The building will undergo about $1.4 million in renovations, Hill said, which will include 36,034 square feet of the building's total square footage of 45,994 square feet.

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|ret|Hill said some of the financial services group's staff will in November join the staff currently housed in the building. The employees who will have their offices in the former bank lobby on the first floor will move in near the end of March 2001, Hill said.

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|ret||quot|We're putting in all new wiring, new electrical, a new phone system and a new HVAC system,|quot| Hill said. |quot|We are going to try to save some of that beautiful marble that's in the lobby and reuse it throughout the building.|quot| [[In-content Ad]]