Home Local News First Horizon to close Rockingham bank

First Horizon to close Rockingham bank

First Horizon will be closing its Rockingham branch in late July.
William R. Toler - Richmond Observer

ROCKINGHAM — A downtown bank will be shutting its doors in three months.

The First Horizon banking center on the corner of East Washington and South Hancock streets will “permanently close at noon on Wednesday, July 21, 2021,” according to a sign on the door.

Customers reportedly received a similar notice in the mail.

After the local branch closes, the notice reads, Richmond County customers’ accounts will be transferred to the bank’s location in Southern Pines.

Comments about the closing are directed to be made to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis  — however, the notice concludes that the Fed “does not have the authority to approve or prevent the banking center closing.”

The closing will leave another vacant building in downtown Rockingham.

Richmond County tax records still show the property belonging to CommunityOne Bank and valued at $324,779.

In a land-swap deal approved by the Rockingham City Council in December 2015, as reported by this writer for the Richmond County Daily Journal, CommunityOne purchased the property from Fidelity Bank to keep a presence downtown, and the city purchased the CommunityOne building on South Lawrence Street.

Just prior to the deal, CommunityOne merged with Capital Bank, with the latter acquiring 45 branches in North Carolina.

In 2017, First Horizon announced its acquisition of Capital Bank.

Two years later, the Winston-Salem Journal reported that First Horizon was closing 22 branches — 14 in North Carolina, seven in Tennessee and one in Florida. One of those N.C. locations was in Laurinburg.

In July 2020, First Horizon merged with IBERIABANK and acquired 30 branches from SunTrust now Truist, picking up locations in North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia.

First Horizon, based in Memphis, Tennessee, has nearly 500 banks across 12 Southeastern states, according to its website.

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First quarter financial results are scheduled to be announced Wednesday, according to a press release.

A phone call made to First Horizon’s media relations department was not returned Tuesday.

The Melvin family, who owns the Richmond Observer, bought the former CommunityOne building from the city at public auction in 2018.

The building, managed by Inc. Space, serves as a small business incubator and has several tenants, including the RO and Sunset Slush.

 



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Managing Editor William R. Toler is an award-winning writer and photographer with experience in print, television and online media.