Westerner plans part of bigger bank expansion

The Westerner Motel won’t close until after next summer sometime, if a deal for its purchase goes through.

Owner Louise Marin said she isn’t sure when the 46-year-old motel will shut down and be demolished.

“We anticipate after the summer or toward the end of next year,” she said.

At their Dec. 5 meeting, Gardnerville Town Board members said they would prefer a proposal for an access from Highway 395 be eliminated from the plans.

The access would be entrance-only and would be in addition to an entrance off Lampe Drive and another from the Smith’s parking lot.

Chase has yet to purchase the property, which is part of a larger expansion into Northern Nevada.

JPMorgan opened its first Northern Nevada Chase Bank branch in south Reno in the shopping center at the corner of Wedge Parkway and the Mount Rose Highway.

Another Chase branch is under development near South Meadows Parkway and Double R Boulevard anchored by Sprouts Farmers Market in south Reno and is expected to open in the first quarter of 2018.

“Staying on top of the growth is a job unto itself, watching how fast things are going around here,” said Sean P. Herron, marketing director for the Northern California and Northern Nevada regions of JPMorgan Chase & Co. “You see the way certain neighborhoods are being developed with a lot of new home sites being built. The changing traffic patterns with all the new road construction will impact client behavior and where they are going to go to for banking services.”

Three more branches are planned for the Lake Tahoe region later in 2018, according to a story in the Northern Nevada Business Weekly.

“It’s about placing ourselves in locations that make sense, not for ourselves today, but in the future as well,” Herron said.

Duane Johnson of the Northern Nevada Business Weekly contributed to this report.