Ever since Wells Fargo took over Wachovia during the great banking crisis of 2008, it was just a matter of time before one of two things had to happen: Either the new Wachovia branch at Belmont/Lakewood & Abrams had to close, or the Wells Fargo branch at Gaston/Abrams had to close. Two banks owned by the same company that close together just didn’t make economic sense.
Now we know the answer: On July 24, the Wachovia branch will close, and existing customers and employees will shuttle down the street to the branch at 6301 Gaston Avenue.
I was told there were a number of factors in the decision, including one that should rise to concern about future buildings built under the governing planned development ordinance we heard so much about during the Whole Foods relocation imbroglio.
There’s more to this story after the jump…
Here’s how the decision was made: Wells Fargo couldn’t relocate its entire neighborhood operation to the Wachovia building because there are only two drive-thru lanes at that location, while the existing Wells Fargo branch (through its separate motor bank on Oram) has a much larger facility for drive-thru business.
Second, the physical layout of the Wachovia building was deemed too small to handle existing Wells Fargo business in the neighborhood, and the volume of business going through the Wachovia building vs. the Wells Fargo branch was significantly lower. The planned move results in fewer customers being displaced.
Third, Wells Fargo has just re-upped for a longterm lease of its existing facilities, and there was no easy economic way out of the lease even if it abandoned the Gaston and Abrams building.
The other important issue in the decision, though, has to do with the way the Wachovia building is sited on the lot: The parking is generally to the rear of the building, nowhere near the Wachovia entrance. In inclement weather, customers have a fair distance to walk, and after dark, a customer has to cover quite a bit of potentially heart-pumping ground behind the building to reach a parked car.
The building was layed out that way, as I understand it, as part of negotiations with the surrounding neighborhood associations. The PD referred to earlier was established years ago to ensure that new development in the Lakewood Village shopping area is "urban friendly", with buildings pushed up against Abrams and parking buried more-or-less out of sight behind the buildings. Whole Foods ran into problems because it wanted to build a new structure facing Gaston; that required a variance from the PD, something that a few amateur land planners in the area loudly denounced, causing Whole Foods to panic, leave the Minyard building’s location alone and just refurbish it.
Wachovia gave up the ghost on that fight, too, leaving the same "footprint" the original gas station/furniture store had at Abrams & Lakewood/Belmont and simply resheathing the building. However, had the bank been left to its own devices, it probably would have torn down the existing structure, pushed it back to the southwest corner of the lot and constructed parking in the front. Would it have looked better from the street? That’s debatable. Would it have been a better "car-centric" building for bank use? Absolutely.
Once the Wachovia is gone, what type of business is likely to buy the building from Wells Fargo, which owns this facility?
That’s a good question. I don’t know the building’s pricetag (I don’t believe it has even been set), nor do I know the square footage or floor plan. I would imagine that, from a usage perspective, a small coffee shop would work since the building has the drive-thru. Another small furniture store might work. Perhaps a FedEx-Kinko’s facility, which was at one time rumored to be going to the empty piece of land next door (no new news on that piece to report, either).These are just guesses based on possible size matches; the economics are a whole ‘nother story.
It all depends on the price Wells Fargo sets.
