Vacant for two years since First Union pulled up stakes, the building has been leased by Sun National Bank, which expects to open it for business in a few months.
By: John Tredrea
In any town of any size, an address like 1 N. Main St. is self-explanatory in terms of location and importance.
Mention an address like that and you’re probably talking a key commercial property in the heart of downtown.
In Pennington, 1 N. Main St. is home to perhaps the most architecturally imposing structure in the borough. But the building has been vacant for about two years, since First Union became the last of a string of banks to pull up stakes and close a branch office there.
As the edifice sat idle and its grounds gave way to neglect (and the snow on its walks and parking lot often went unshoveled), much disappointment and frustration were expressed by borough residents and merchants about there being no bank in the borough’s downtown area.
Now, things are looking up for the town’s commercial life and the red-brick and granite structure with the twin-columned portico and tall, impressively arched windows at the northeast corner of Main Street and Delaware Avenue. It’s been leased by Sun National Bank.
"It’ll be a full-service bank. We’ve already filed our application with federal regulators and hope to open by March. It all depends on how much work we need to do inside the building. The decision-making process on that is under way," said Larry Kramer, a vice president in Sun’s commercial banking division from his Vineland office Friday afternoon.
Mr. Kramer would not disclose any of the terms of Sun’s lease of the building from its owner, 1st State Partners of Philadelphia.
"We’re excited about moving into that location," Mr. Kramer said. He added that Sun, which has a branch on East Broad Street in Hopewell Borough, is planning to open another office in Mercer County soon, in West Windsor near the train station off Alexander Road.
Sun has spruced up and relandscaped the grounds at 1 N. Main St. Sun also put holiday wreaths in the windows and on trees.
There’s only one drive-up window at the bank. Due to space constraints at the site, Mr. Kramer doubts Sun will be able to add any more of them. He said Sun president Tom Bracken, a Hopewell Valley area resident, was instrumental in the firm’s decision to occupy the 1 N. Main St. structure, which has been home to a number of banking firms some of them now defunct since it was built many years ago.
Mr. Bracken is former president of CoreStates New Jersey National Bank, which had a branch at 1 N. Main before First Union, Mr. Kramer noted.
First Union still has a presence in Pennington, at the northwest corner of West Delaware Avenue and Route 31. It also has a branch in Hopewell Township on Washington Crossing Road just west of the Pennington Circle.