Several new Landmark facilities

Some customers prefer to see banker in person for complex deals, or stop in to get coffee

More Americans than ever are using websites and smart phone apps to pay bills, deposit checks and transfer cash.

Yet, banks and credit unions are building new branch locations. Those include two buildings that have opened in the North Shore area in the past year, with others under construction nearby.

Those developments and other projects, including one planned for a high-profile Wauwatosa location, show that banks and credit unions still need brick and mortar locations even as online banking keeps growing.

Some customers still want to meet in person with bankers, particularly when they have more complex deals such as home mortgages and commercial loans.

Other transactions, such as car loans, could involve most of the work being done online — with the borrower still wanting a final in-person meeting, said Brian Melter, Landmark Credit Union’s chief experience officer.

“What we’re trying to do is support the way you do business with us,” Melter said.

Branch locations also provide bases to do volunteer work on Habitat for Humanity home construction projects, provide financial literacy classes, sponsor community events and stage other activities, he said.

Landmark, which is finishing a new corporate headquarters in Brookfield, opened a Town of Brookfield branch, at 19600 W. Blue Mound Road, in February 2020; a Greenfield branch, at 8300 W.

Layton Ave., last July, and a Glendale branch, at 6300 N. Port Washington Road, in January.

The credit union has two more branches under construction at 10865 N. Port Washington Road, Mequon, opening in mid-June, and at 2309 Fox Run Blvd., Waukesha, opening in early fall.

Melter declined to say how much Landmark is investing in those developments.

He said branch locations today average around 3,000 square feet, compared to over 5,000 square feet five to 10 years ago.

Those smaller buildings reflect the reduced need for tellers as more people use online banking for regular transactions, as well as less demand for safe deposit boxes, Melter said.

The increased use of credit cards, debit cards and electronic payments also means Landmark doesn’t keep as much cash at its branches. That translates to less vault space, he said.

In addition, there are fewer private offices for bankers in favor of open work space, he said.

Three projects in Glendale

Landmark’s Glendale branch is one of three new credit unions and banks that have been developed in that community over the past year or so.

Associated Bank opened a new branch in late December 2019 at 6745 N. Port Washington Road — less than 1 mile north of the new Landmark branch.

Also, Chase Bank in January opened a Glendale branch at 209 W. Silver Spring Drive — replacing a former gas station.

It’s one of 10 bank branches located on or just off Silver Spring Drive from Port Washington Road, in Glendale, to Lake Drive, in Whitefish Bay.

Yet another branch is under construction in that roughly 1-mile span: a Town Bank at 115 W. Silver Spring Drive, Whitefish Bay. It is scheduled to open in late August.

The affluent North Shore area is a strong market, said Jay Mack, president and chief executive officer at Hartlandbased Town Bank, a division of Rosemont, Illinois-based Wintrust Financial Corp.

The two-story building will feature a street-level retail branch, with business banking, mortgage lending and wealth management services on the second floor.

“The Whitefish Bay office will help us expand our footprint and reach a larger potential client base,” Mack said.

“We already bank a number of downtown professionals and business owners who live in the area, so the new office will be convenient to them,” he said.

Not everyone is thrilled with the proliferation of bank branches along Silver Spring Drive.

The plans for Town Bank, which replaced a dental office and another onestory office building, drew comments from unhappy area residents when they were announced.

“We do not need another bank,” one person wrote on the Whitefish Bay Civic Foundation’s Facebook page. “We do need more small, locally owned businesses.”

Branches cluster together

Not surprisingly, new bank and credit union branches tend to be developed in wealthier areas. They’re chasing the same customers — just as McDonald’s, Burger King and Wendy’s will often cluster near one another on the same roads.

Brookfield is among the Milwaukeearea communities that have seen new branch locations built in the past couple of years.

That includes a Summit Credit Union building that opened in July 2019 at 920 S. Moorland Road.

Summit, which completed its new Cottage Grove headquarters two years ago, has since built two other Waukesha County branches, at 2208 E. Moreland Blvd., Waukesha, in November 2019 and at 1468 E. Capitol Drive, Village of Pewaukee, last October.

Meanwhile, North Shore Bank in July opened its first Germantown branch at N112 W15800 Mequon Road, and in October opened a branch at 15830 W. Capitol Drive, Brookfield, replacing an older building at that address.

Another high-profile branch replacement, for BMO Harris Bank, staged its September grand opening at downtown Milwaukee’s new BMO Tower.

Also in the downtown area, Brookfield-based North Shore Bank last April opened a branch at 510 E. Pleasant St.

Finally, UW Credit Union opens its newest branch on May 5 at 6611 S. 27th St., Franklin, and is building a replacement next to its Glendale branch, at 6016 N. Port Washington Road.

The Madison-based credit union also plans to add branches in 2022 and 2023 at 115 W. Oklahoma Ave., Milwaukee; 15300 W. Blue Mound Road, Elm Grove, and 5100 S. 76th St., Greenfield.

Concern about underserved areas

With many of those new locations in more affluent areas, there’s the question of whether lower-income neighborhoods are being underserved — a chronic problem that includes the discriminatory lending practice known as redlining.

Melter said Landmark doesn’t want to “be the folks just putting branches up in certain areas.”

He cited Landmark’s longtime West Milwaukee location, at 4501 W. National Ave., as well as a possible replacement of its former branch at Midtown Center’s Walmart store. The branch, on Milwaukee’s

north side, closed when Walmart shuttered the store in 2016.

Summit’s Waukesha County locations “are on a path from Madison” that also includes branches in West Milwaukee, the Milwaukee VA Medical Center, Greenfield and Franklin, said Chief Executive Officer and President Kim Sponem.

“We consider a number of factors when selecting a location, including places that are currently underserved by a credit union,” she said.

The new buildings run counter to a larger trend throughout the United States, including Wisconsin.

The Badger State had 1,855 bank branches as of June 30, according to the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions.

Those numbers have been dropping steadily for several years, and represent a 13% decline since June 2016.

Wisconsin’s total credit union locations, which are around one-third the number of bank locations, have largely held steady.

But both banks and credit unions — the latter are financial cooperatives owned by their members instead of shareholders — have been affected by online banking’s growing popularity.

Indeed, Green Bay-based Associated Bank said in September it would close or consolidate 14 branches throughout Wisconsin as customers continue migrating to digital banking.

That list included four Milwaukeearea locations.

Meanwhile, an American Bankers Association survey released in November found that for the first time ever bank customers were conducting transactions through mobile apps more often than any other method.

Prior to COVID-19, 36% of bank customers used apps on phones or other mobile devices as their top choice for managing their bank accounts.

The survey said 29% used online banking through laptops or other personal computers the most, while 17% most frequently did business at bank branches.

Post-pandemic, the use of mobile apps and online banking increased to 39% and 32%, while branch banking fell to 10%, according to the survey.

Other forms of banking included ATMs, telephone transactions and mail.

Digital banking’s growth also affects smaller community banks such as Horicon Bank, based in its namesake Dodge County community.

But that didn’t stop Horicon Bank from announcing in February plans to build a flagship branch to house retail banking operations, business lending offices and executive offices at The Mayfair Collection, a mixed-use development east of I-41 and north of West Burleigh Street in Wauwatosa.

That two-story, 7,500-square-foot building, which will undergo a Plan Commission review, is to open next summer, said Fred C. Schwertfeger, senior vice president.

That branch, along with one opening this fall at 15600 W. Cleveland Ave., in New Berlin, will provide places for faceto-face meetings to do commercial loans and other transactions, Schwertfeger said.

Also, The Mayfair Collection site’s high visibility will help market Horicon Bank’s entry into the Milwaukee metro area, he said. Its only other area location is in West Bend.

Banks also still serve as community gathering places, especially for their older customers, Schwertfeger said.

“I know they like to have a cup of coffee or read a newspaper in our bank,” Schwertfeger said.

“Those are features of community life that are hard to replace,” he said.

Construction work is done Tuesday on the future Town Bank branch at 115 W. Silver Spring Drive in Whitefish Bay. The bank is among several new branch locations that have been opening in the Milwaukee area.

The new Chase Bank at 209 W. Silver Spring Drive in Glendale is one of 10 banks located within 1 mile of one another. New banks and credit unions are being built in affluent areas such as the North Shore suburbs.