The bank branches are now seen as surplus properties, says Rob Darmanin, director of corporate relations for Standard Federal. The Farmington Hills building is for sale, Darminin says, but would not confirm rumors the property is being purchased by Chrysler Financial Co., a subsidiary of DaimlerChrysler AG.
"We still can't comment about any purchaser," Darmanin says.
The excess property was brought about by the $2.75-billion sale of Michigan National to ABN Amro earlier this year, says Sharon Strichartz of the Farbman Group of Southfield, the brokerage firm hired to market the 17 branch buildings.
The sale of such properties after bank mergers is pretty standard practice, Strichartz says.
"Well, MNB might have a bank on one corner, and Standard Federal might have a bank on the other corner, one of those properties is no longer needed," she says.In the fall, 29 branches will be closed, with 30 more consolidating. Aconsolidation occurs when two branches located within a short distance of one another are combined into one location.
More than half of the closings or consolidations are within one mile of the next closest branch.
"When the merger was announced, it was immediately clear that we had anumber of overlapping branches," says Gerrie Smith, group senior vicepresident of retail banking for the new company. "We are happy to announce that low- to moderate-income neighborhoods will not be negatively impacted. In addition, we expect only a small number of branch employees to be displaced."
Strichartz's office has been at work contacting other bank companies, and basically marketing the branches as much as possible. There's a lot of interest in the properties, Strichartz says.
"We're not offering an asking price, everything's strictly on a bid basis," she says.
The two banks will operate as one entity under the Standard Federal Bank name and logo after they combine operating systems next month. The name is not limited by any geographic connotation. The combined company will have offices in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio.
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