Associated Bank marks grand reopening of East St. Louis branch
From left, Municipal Solutions, Consulting and Contracting CEO Robert Betts; Stanley Franklin, president of the St. Clair County NAACP; Judge Milton Worton; Associated East St. Louis Bank Manager Loretta Holmes; Jackie Joyner-Kersee; Associated Southern Illinois Community Market President Phillip Hickman; and City Manager of East St. Louis Alvin Parks
From Illinois Business Journal news services
EAST ST. LOUIS – Associated Bank on Thursday celebrated what it calls a continuing commitment to the East St. Louis community with an event marking the completion of a major remodeling of its branch at 326 Missouri Ave.
The investment is estimated at $750,000.
Phil Hickman, president of Associated Bank’s Southern Illinois Community Market, hosted the event.
“We were delighted to have been joined by Jackie Joyner-Kersee, several important local officials and other guests to hail the completion of this project,” Hickman said. “Our refurbished branch will serve to improve the banking experience for our customers and at the same time enhance our continuing role as a lender in supporting future East St. Louis development.”
During a brief program, Hickman presented Joyner-Kersee, an Olympic gold medalist and community native, with a $5,000 contribution from Associated to support her local foundation’s after-school program for children.
Other attendees included Superintendent of East St. Louis Schools Arthur Culver, president of the St. Clair County NAACP Stanley Franklin, 20th Circuit Court Judge Milton Wharton, executive director of the Belleville, Illinois Chamber of Commerce John Lengerman, and Executive Assistant to the Mayor of East St. Louis, Diedre Powell.
Branch Manager Loretta Holmes introduced her branch team and shared their collective excitement over the project.
“Our team has been thrilled watching the transformation of our 6,000-square-foot building into a modern and efficient operation with a welcoming environment for our customers,” Holmes said.
The renovation included new flooring and lighting, modern teller lines, accessible offices for special consumer and commercial banking activities, Wi-Fi allowing staff to help customers become familiar with digital banking channels and numerous other upgrades.
The refurbished branch includes a new Community Room, which can be reserved by local not-for-profit organizations for their meetings.
The bank was built in 1958 by then-owner State Savings and Loan. It later became part of First Financial Corp., which merged into Associated Bank in 1997.
About Associated Banc-Corp
Associated Banc-Corp. has total assets of more than $27 billion and is one of the top 50 publicly traded U.S. bank holding companies. Headquartered in Green Bay, Wisc., Associated is a Midwest banking franchise, offering a range of financial products and services from more than 200 banking locations serving more than 100 communities throughout Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota, and commercial financial services in Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Texas.
