BY DICK METZGAR
Staff Writer
If all goes according to plan, there will be a new bank on Route 9 in Freehold Township by January.A board of directors has already been sworn in and an application has been submitted to the state Department of Banking and Insurance, said Robert O’Donnell, Millstone Township, chairman and chief executive officer of the proposed bank to be called the Community Bank and Trust of New Jersey.
O’Donnell said the permanent home of the new bank will be in the proposed Colonial Commons development on Route 9 north near Route 79. The site is the former home of the Gordon Lumber Co.
A temporary location on Route 9 is likely to be needed before construction of the permanent bank building begins.
“We are hoping that the Department of Banking will schedule a [public hearing] on our application sometime in October. As soon as we get that approval we will go before the Freehold Township Planning Board with an application for a two-story freestanding structure to house the bank. We also hope to go public with the bank in November to raise about $20 million for assets through the sale of shares and stock.”
O’Donnell emphasized that plans to get the bank operational are on the fast track.
“Once we get the necessary approvals for the proposal we are not going to wait for the construction of our permanent building to go into business,” O’Donnell said. “For at least the first year we will operate out of a temporary facility.”
The new Community Bank and Trust of New Jersey would enter the market in what is a busy stretch of Route 9 in Freehold Township. Already in business is a branch of Sun National Bank next to the Juniper Plaza business complex.
The Freehold Township Planning Board is considering an application filed by Valley National Bank to build a branch at the corner of Route 9 north and Three Brooks Road on the site of an abandoned gas station.
The Sun bank branch next to Juniper Plaza was previously the Community Bank of New Jersey which opened for business in the late 1990s. O’Donnell was the president of Community Bank at the time it was bought by Sun National Bank in 2004.
“I’ve been in the banking business all of my life,” said O’Donnell, an Army veteran of the Vietnam War. “I spent 12 years with Amboy National Bank in Old Bridge before I joined Community Bank.”
O’Donnell said he is not concerned about starting a new bank so close to two other financial institutions.
“Banks are like retail stores,” he said. “There is always room for one more. In my opinion, the success of a bank depends on the quality of customer service and up-to-date technology. We will have both. We have already contracted with Other Solutions Inc. (OSI) to provide us with state-of-the-art technology from the time we open for business.”
Among the services planned to be offered by the proposed bank will be home equity loans, commercial loans, construction loans and working capital loans, O’Donnell said.
“However, we will not offer auto loans because we will not be able to compete in that area, where other banks often offer no interest loans,” he said.
O’Donnell said the Community Bank and Trust of New Jersey will not be a bank for all people.
“Many banks will tell you that they want your business,” he said. “We are going one step beyond that. We will want to earn your business.”
Although O’Donnell said the bank hopes to open with $20 million in assets, projections for the future are considerably higher.
“We will open with $20 million through public shares and stock,” he said. “At the end of our first year in business we project that to be in the neighborhood of $60 million to $70 million.”
O’Donnell said he selected the first board of directors with care.
“The members of the board were hand-picked by me based on character and their business records,” he said.
Along with O’Donnell the members of the board are Robert F. Agel, Howell; Edward M. Brock, Colts Neck; Kenneth W. Faistl, Colts Neck; Anthony J. Caprio, Marlboro; Frederic C. Frey, Allentown; Andrew C. Harris, Colts Neck; Stephen A. Kaye, Wall Township; Shelly I. LoCascio, Wall Township; Robert McGirr, Freehold Township; Brendan P. O’Donnell, Millstone; Rogan M. O’Donnell, Millstone; and Kenneth L. Pape, Millstone.
“We sincerely believe that this part of Monmouth County is ideal for a bank such as ours,” O’Donnell said.