Room to grow: Downtown bank remodeling, expanding headquarters

TERRE HAUTE For the first time since the dedication of its corporate headquarters downtown in 1988, First Financial Bank will begin next month to use the entire building, after a remodeling of a long-vacant, previously unfinished fourth floor.

The move will impact 69 employees, 19 of which will be moved into the downtown office building from the banks operations center at 1401 S. Third St., said bank President/CEO Norman L. Lowery.

The bank is moving all of its commercial, mortgage and installment loan employees and loan administration to the more than 16,000-square-foot fourth floor.

The move also will relocate 50 people to the fourth floor from the second floor. That vacated second-floor space will allow for additional personnel moves from the operations center to the downtown, possibly legal and auditing personnel, Lowery said.

The fourth floor relocation is scheduled for April 21.

This will improve our lending service and allow us to do some things such as cross train some of our personnel who had been in separate buildings, Lowery said.

This building was built and furnished in 1988. This is our corporate office, and we are the only publicly traded corporation headquartered in Vigo County. This is our corporate office, and I want to start seeing it in that light. I think this is probably the first step in some things that we will do here and in some other facilities, too, Lowery said.

Banking has changed so much since this building was built, with some things that made sense in 1988, but now everything it electronic. We have 15 teller lines [inside the building] and we probably use five, Lowery said.

Is there a better way to do that, and should we be installing some electronic means of banking? Lowery said. I think we need to look at what we do and try to improve on it down here.

Lowery said the banks operations center had people elbow to elbow, requiring the relocation.

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Room to grow: Downtown bank remodeling, expanding headquarters