First State's Big Pine Branch to Open on Monday

Contrary to what the media may like to report , it is not ALL doom and gloom in the Financial Sector. First State is about to open a new branch on Big Pine Key this coming Monday. That being said, I am sure that they will be eager to make an abundance of Home loans for properties here in the Keys.

I came across this article in Keysnet.com this morning:

"First State's Big Pine branch to open on Monday

By Margaret Menge
mmenge@keynoter.com

It is a sign - a welcome one - that all in the banking world is not quite as universally dour as one would think after watching television news.
First State Bank has spent $2 million on a new branch on Big Pine Key, set to open Monday at the traffic light on U.S. 1.
"We were very, very happy to get that location," says First State spokesman Don Lanman. "It's prime location. It's so convenient and it's so efficient."
First State renovated the old Century 21 building, where Wilder Road and Key Deer Boulevard meet U.S. 1, adding two drive-through lanes that will allow customers to make deposits 24 hours a day.
And they've taken a "green" approach to the new branch.
"We could have razed the building and bought a new one," says Lanman. "But we chose to keep it."
Green features include a copper roof; copper having one of the highest recycling rates of any metal. There are also energy efficient light fixtures, landscaping that includes only native plants, and plants that don't require much watering and a sign made from recycled metal. The furniture from the old Century 21 office was given to the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Big Pine Key. First State Bank will be celebrating the grand opening of the new branch all next week with free tours, coffee, holiday cookies and a drawing for a chance to win a gift card.
The new building will give the bank better visibility on this most populous island in the Lower Keys. But First State already has two other branches here: one inside the Winn Dixie grocery store, and another the bank calls the 'annex' - a very small space in the building across the parking lot, on the southwest corner of the Winn Dixie shopping plaza.
The bank planned to close the annex for good on Friday and move employees over to the new building to start work on Monday. The branch in the Winn Dixie will remain open for about another 90 days, says Lanman. Branch manager Shana Casey will oversee both locations, and employees will go back and forth between the two.
For customers of First State on Big Pine Key, the new branch means not having to park and get out to do your banking. And it also means having a place to meet with a loan officer in a private office. One loan officer will be moving to the new Big Pine branch from another location to accommodate potential lenders.
Key West architect and designer Michael Ingrahm, a principal in the firm MBI/K2M, did the redesign of the new First State branch, using millwork and other details that his firm designed for First State Bank when they were hired to do design work at the bank's main branch on Simonton Street.
Headquartered in Key West, First State Bank of the Florida Keys is a locally owned and operated community bank with 13 branches and 32 ATMs throughout the Keys. The bank was founded in 1955. "

Put the expert to work for you!
Please visit FloridaKeysWaterfrontExpert.com for all of your Keys real estate needs!
Click here: FloridaKeysWaterfrontExpert.com

For a quick Search of available Properties in the Florida Keys, click here: Keys MLS Search.

TIB (The Islamorada Bank) gets lending money

This article is From the Key West Citizen:

"TIB gets lending money
By Robert Silk Citizen Staff

TIB Financial Corp. will receive a $37 million capital infusion from the U.S. Treasury Department under a deal that closed last week.
The money will help TIB's nine Florida Keys branches continue lending to individual homeowners and small- and medium-sized businesses.
"It will allow us to continue without interrupting our mission," TIB Bank President/CEO Mike Carrigan said. "So far this year, we have never stopped lending."

The funds come as part of a program authorized by Congress' $700 billion economic rescue package, approved in early October. Carrigan stressed that this portion of the package, called the Capital Purchase Program, is available only to banks that federal regulators deem to be sufficiently healthy.

"This is an investment. It is not a gift. It is not a bailout," Carrigan said.
Under the deal, the Treasury Department will purchase $37 million worth of preferred TIB stock with an annual dividend of 5 percent for the first three years and 9 percent in the ensuing years.
In addition, the government is to receive warrants for $5.5 million in common TIB stock at $5.22 per share. The warrants can be turned in for actual stock shares at the government's discretion.

TIB was trading at $4.50 per share as of late Monday morning, down slightly more than half from its 12-month high of $9.47.
Carrigan said TIB has not been immune to the economic crunch that has afflicted financial institutions across the country, but it has doled out $150 million in residential mortgages for homeowners and $90 million in commercial loans to businesses this year, he said. About half of those business loans have been provided in the Keys, he said.
TIB reported losses of $2.2 million in the third quarter, compared with a profit of $494,000 during the same period last year.
The total value of its commercial loans increased by $20 million from the end of June to the end of September and its residential loans increased by $17 million.
The company holds $1.23 billion in total loans, of which $27 million are either in default or nearly there.
TIB Financial Corp. is the parent company of TIB Bank, The Bank of Venice and Naples Capital Advisors. It has 17 banks in the Keys, Homestead, Naples, Bonita Springs, Fort Myers, Venice and Sebring.
Founded in Islamorada, the bank now has its company headquarters in Naples, and two branches in Key West, one in Big Pine Key, two in Marathon, one in Islamorada, one in Tavernier and two in Key Largo.
As of Friday, only two other Florida banks were in the queue to receive a capital infusion under the Treasury's $250 billion Capital Purchase Program, according to The Wall Street Journal."

Please visit FloridaKeysWaterfrontExpert.com for all of your Keys real estate needs!