Heritage Bank readies completion of new headquarters

Heritage Bank will be leaving its longtime midtown location on South Virginia Street for more spacious digs just down the street.

Hertigage Bank, which was founded 17 years ago at 1401 S. Virginia St. and has since added has five branch locations in Reno-Sparks, Carson City and Gardnerville, will take over the former bank building at 2330 S. Virginia by years end, says Stan Wilmoth, Heritage’s president and chief executive officer.

Heritage Bank has operated from two buildings in its current headquarters location, and the move to the 24,000-square-foot building that formerly housed U.S. and Colonial banks gives Heritage room to grow and better serve its customers, Wilmoth says. Heritage Bank employs 40 at its headquarters branch.

“We have people in every nook and cranny and were getting overwhelmed trying to create more office space out of almost nothing. This was a great building for us. We really tried to stay here and had plans to tear part of the building down and enlarge it, but it just didn’t work. It is with a bit of sorrow we are leaving this building.”

Wilmoth says staying as close as possible to the midtown area, which is experiencing a rebirth with new businesses and eateries locating there, was a key factor in site selection. Though the new building is outside Reno’s midtown core, it was the only suitable nearby location.

“We really wanted to stay as close as we could to our current location,” Wilmoth says. “It has been really good for the bank — over the last 17 years we have built such great synergies in the midtown area we really didn’t want to move far. We knew that if we left this branch that there would be a lot of people that might not come. (This new site) gives us the opportunity to do that (move) without losing that midtown feel.”

Sierra Builders is demolishing the interior of the building at 2330 S. Virginia to its shell. Heritage Bank has not yet lined up a general contractor or subcontractors to remodel the interior and exterior of the building. Heritage is working with Jeff Frame of Frame Architecture to choose a new look for the exterior of the building, which was erected in 1972.

“We are very excited about the next chapter in the Heritage Bank story, and this is a really quantum leap for us to go from two buildings that just aren’t big enough for us to a building where we can spread out and service our customers,” Wilmoth says.