No-bank clause irks township
Cavan Monaghan council asks TD Bank to remove clause requiring buyer of soon-to-close branch to not use building as a bank for five years
MILLBROOK -- Millbrook may be without a bank long-term, when TD closes in August, thanks to a condition of sale on the building that says a buyer can’t open a bank there for five years.
TD Bank is closing for good on Aug. 18 and it’s expected that the building on King St. E. will be put on the market in September.
But there will be a condition on the sale: TD doesn’t want a buyer to open a bank, or lease it to someone to open a bank for five years.
Township council isn’t happy about it: at a meeting on Monday, they voted to write to TD and insist that the condition be removed.
Council also asked its own legal staff to check if the condition is legal.
Daria Hill, a spokeswoman for TD, stated in an email to The
Examiner that the condition is “standard” when they sell a building – and that it can be removed once they start receiving offers to purchase.
“We will accept the best offer and take out the clause if needed,” she wrote.
But that’s not good enough for Scott McFadden, the mayor of Cavan Monaghan Township.
“Our response is that you shouldn’t have the clause there in the first place – it’s anti-competitive,” he said in an interview Tuesday.
Kimberley Pope, the director of finance for the township, said the matter was pointed out to municipal staff recently by a prospective buyer.
A bank was interested in buying the building and opening up shop – but they were told of the condition of sale.
Pope wrote to TD district vicepresident Michelle Wilson to ask that the condition be dropped before the building goes on the market, since there’s no other bank in town.
But Pope said Wilson wrote back that TD wouldn’t drop the clause, just yet - they’ll only drop it if the best offer comes from a bank.
The Examiner could not reach Wilson for comment on Tuesday.
Pope said the matter was brought to councillors because township staff was unable to persuade TD to drop the clause.
“We’re trying to convince a financial institution to come here – and this is a stumbling block,” she said.
At the township council meeting on Monday, councillors expressed their dismay at the condition of sale.
“I guess I’m surprised – I don’t understand how that’s not an infringement on competition,” said Deputy Mayor John Fallis.
McFadden said at the meeting he was disappointed: not only is TD leaving Millbrook, but it’s also trying to discourage any other bank from doing business in the building on King St.
When TD Bank closes in August in Millbrook, it will merge with the branch on Lansdowne St. W. in Peterborough (in the plaza at Webber Ave., across from Best Buy).