B of A plan irks CooperYoung

Cooper-Young residents worried about blight are pushing back against Bank of America.

The bank has decided to shutter a branch and leave behind a drive-thru ATM at the historic neighborhood’s namesake intersection.

Neighborhood leaders called the decision to quit staffing the branch Feb. 20 an “abomination” that may bring neglect and decay.

“There is a huge amount of outcry,” said Charlie Ryan, a key commercial property owner in the Midtown neighborhood.

“To shutter the doors and go dark at the very focal point of our neighborhood is criminal, I think. All we can really do is lobby the bank and say, ‘This isn’t right.’ ”

The bank could lock up the building for another 20 years under a recently extended lease, Ryan said.

The old Boatmen’s National Bank, with whom Ryan negotiated the original lease, was a cornerstone of Cooper-Young’s revitalization starting in the late 1980s. Ryan’s exwife owns the property, and he is leasing agent.

“There was no clause in there like a normal lease where you can’t shut the doors, unfortunately,” he said.

A posting on CooperYoung’s Nextdoor.com social media site urged residents and business owners to voice objections to chief executive Brian T. Moynihan and Memphis market president Mike Frick. It included executives’ e-mails and phone numbers.

Frick was not available Friday, but bank spokesman Matthew Daily said branch closings are based on customer behavior: more banking online, by mobile device and ATM.

Asked whether protests had been heard, Daily said, “I can’t speak to what they (residents) think about it. Clearly there’s some interest in the community there.”