Huntington opens Private Bank Welcome Center
Feb. 22—TRAVERSE CITY — When Huntington Bank acquired TCF Bank in 2021, it welcomed the opportunity to expand its presence in the Traverse City market. Now Huntington Bank is returning the favor.
Huntington National Bank recently announced the opening of its Private Bank Welcome Center. The newly-remodeled facility is located at 625 S. Garfield Ave. and is the home of a former branch location.
Open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, the Welcome Center will house not only Huntington's private banking teams, but also its mortgage, business banking and wealth management teams. Appointments are recommended for the Private Banking Welcome Center, which will not handle typical branch transactions.
The renovations to the Welcome Center, include multiple "state-of-the-art meeting rooms with technological upgrades to improve the client experience," according to a release from Huntington.
"It gives our customers a chance to meet and conference in a private setting where we can talk about meeting their financial needs," Seth Perigo, Huntington's regional president for Northern Michigan and Great Lakes Bay, said in a Monday conference call.
Perigo said the 625 S. Garfield Ave. facility will serve as the "primary hub for Traverse City." It will also have an office for Jennifer Jones, Community President for Traverse City.
Perigo said the newly-renovated facility is further proof of the bank's emphasis that "local matters."
"Renovations were made with our clients in mind, because we are always looking out for people," Jones said in the release. "We are proud to have partnered with local contractors and suppliers to bring this project to life."
Huntington National Bank Communications Manager Samantha Myers said the bank has 100 staff members in Grand Traverse County.
"We are super excited," Perigo said. "It's a great area, great customers and great colleagues."
A nearby Huntington branch located at 1227 E. Front St. in the Campus Plaza will continue to serve the daily banking needs of its customers. Huntington also has bank branches in Traverse City at 427 West Front St., 613 W. 14th St., the Grand Traverse Mall (3160 South Airport Road) and Chum's Corner (4205 U.S. 31 South), according to its website.
"We've had a significant presence in northern Michigan for a long time," Perigo said.
Huntington acquired Empire Bank in August 2000 to bring nine locations to the greater Grand Traverse area, according to bank officials. Huntington also acquired FMB in 1998 and that brought one location to Traverse City.
Huntington Bancshares Inc. acquired the TCF Financial Corporation in a deal that became official June 9, 2021 with regulatory approval. The merger between Huntington and TCF was first announced in mid-December 2020 and the name change completed in October of 2021.
The combination of Huntington and TCF came on the heels of two decades of regional bank maneuvers. Chemical Bank acquired Northwestern Bank on Oct. 31, 2014 before taking on Monarch Community Bancorp in April 2015 and Lake Michigan Financial Corporation in May 2015, as previously reported in a June 16, 2021 Record-Eagle article.
TCF National Bank Minnesota acquired TCF National Bank in Ann Arbor on April 1, 2000, and changed its name to TCF National Bank. TCF Bank merged with Chemical Bank on Aug. 1, 2019 in what was then called "a merger of equals" under the TCF Bank name.
"Traverse City has seen its share of activity of mergers and acquisitions in the banking world the last few years," Perigo said.
Based in Columbus, Ohio, Huntington Bancshares ranks 27th ($179.402 billion) among the 152 top holding companies with more than $10 billion in assets, according to the most recent report (Sept. 30, 2022) from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council's National Information Center.
Shortly after the acquisition of TCF, Huntington decided to convert the Garfield Avenue branch. "The community banking welcome center made the most sense," Perigo said.
More information on the center is available at https://www.huntington.com/private-bank.
