Bell Bank's local office ahead of schedule

Jun. 18—Bell Bank's Owensboro mortgage servicing office was scheduled to open in the former Alorcia Building, 234 Frederica St., on Aug. 1.

But Bob Smiley, Bell's senior vice president/mortgage servicing director, said Friday, "Work is going faster than we expected on the temporary space on the second floor. We should be able to open by mid-July."

The Fargo, North Dakota-based bank, announced in February that it had selected Owensboro over several cities that it was considering for the office that is supposed to have 178 employees by 2026.

But the deal was held up when Alorica, which had a lease on the property, initially refused to relinquish the space.

A deal was finally worked out last month.

Smiley, who was formerly executive vice president and head of servicing for U.S. Bank Home Mortgage in Owensboro, said, "There are a lot of moving parts. We're getting temporary furniture in. The telecom provider should get in there around July 1 and then our IT people can get in and complete everything."

He said Bell Bank now has 10 employees in Owensboro and has eight openings.

The 10 are already working remotely until they can get into the new office space.

Smiley said, "We've had great success in hiring and made some great hires. We're very pleased."

Initial plans called for 37 employees by the end of the year.

Smiley said, "Since we're getting a late start, I'm not sure if we'll be at 37 by the end of the year."

He added, "I'm not sure how many we'll have by the end of 2023, but we have the same goal for 2026."

Smiley said work has started on the fourth and fifth floors getting them ready for permanent Bell offices.

"Then, we'll expand to the third floor," he said.

Smiley said the rehabilitation will start on the fifth floor where the break room and outdoor terrace is and work its way down.

Bell Bank, which has more than $10 billion in assets, describes itself as the largest family-and employee-owned bank in the upper Midwest, and one of the largest privately owned banks in the nation.

Mortgage rates risingFortune magazine wrote on Wednesday, "As of Tuesday, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate has jumped to 6.28% — up from 5.3% just a month ago. That marks the highest mortgage rate since 2008. The 3.2 percentage point jump in mortgage rates over the past year also marks the biggest upward swing since 1981."

"The market has changed a bit," Smiley said, "but we're still moving forward. Nationwide, the retail mortgage market has slowed down a little. But we're also in acquisition of loans. It hasn't really impacted our plans."

He said, "People still need housing and mortgage companies are still making loans."

Smiley said he won't be returning to Owensboro to run the new mortgage office.

"I'm in Minneapolis," he said. "I'll be staying here."

Last month, the Owensboro City Commission amended a previous municipal ordinance to rebate to the company half of its general fund occupational taxes over a period of seven years.

The tax rebates will begin Jan. 1, 2026, unless the company requests it begin earlier.

As part of the agreement, Bell Bank must have a staff of at least 135 employees to keep the tax rebate.

"The more tax revenue they generate, the more they get to keep," City Manager Nate Pagan said at the time.

Smiley said the bank looked at several large cities, including Phoenix and St. Louis, but decided to locate the new office in Owensboro.

He said they were looking for 35,000 to 40,000 square feet of office space.

Few if any employees will transfer from another city, Smiley said.

All will be local.

Keith Lawrence, 270-691-7301, klawrence@messenger-inquirer.com