You’ve probably heard someone say it before, or maybe said it yourself: Seriously, another bank?
In the Town of Bethlehem, and especially on the Delaware Avenue commercial corridor, this is something of a perennial cry every time banking news come up, be it in letters to the editor, online discussions or old-fashioned coffee shop talk.
In the Delmar area, a cursory search reveals six banks clustered near Delaware Plaza at the east end of Delaware Avenue. Another three full-fledged branches are near the Four Corners, a little more than a mile away, and there are more to the west and east in Slingerlands and Glenmont.
In a meeting of the town’s Development Planning Committee last month, Bethlehem’s Director of Economic Development and Planning Michael Morelli said his office hears from residents about the density of banks. At the time, he was talking with owners of the Price Chopper Plaza in Slingerlands about their thoughts for a new standalone bank there (no plans have been formally submitted yet).
In a recent interview, Morelli said there are indeed a good number of banks in Bethlehem.
“It’s really based on a market economy. In a free market economy, if a use is permitted and they meet all the local laws and regulations, they can build,” Morelli said.
Banks are listed as a specific use in the town’s zoning code, but they’re generally free to locate in commercial zones just like any other business. The biggest planning obstacle for most branches is the construction of drive-through lanes, which sometimes draw the scrutiny of planners.
So why are there as many banks as places to get a cup of coffee? According to Trustco Vice President Kevin Timmons, the answer is simple.
“The branches are being put in spots where the banks think there is business to be had, just like McDonald’s, Dunkin Donuts, or Price Chopper or whatever,” Timmons said.
Trustco has a branch near Delaware Plaza, and Timmons went on to say there is a roughly $900 million deposit base in a 3-mile radius around that bank branch.
“For Upstate New York, that’s a pretty good showing for that size of a market,” he said.
In other words, Delmar’s residents are reasonably affluent, which is good for business of any sort but banks in particular.
Delaware Avenue is also a busy stretch of road. Thousands of vehicles pass through this corridor on their way to or from the city every day, and some of them are naturally going to need to stop off at the bank.
Karl Johnson, vice president at Pioneer Savings Bank, said his company has branches in Glenmont and Delmar because that’s a convenient structure for many customers.
“Now they can bank in both places, where they work and where they live,” he said. “You want to be situated in an area where there’s a movement of people. … Location is very important.”
And while commercial activity has been sluggish for years, banks are still kicking. Trustco Bank recently opened a branch in Glenmont at what used to be a Hollywood Video store, putting that vacant storefront back to use.
Berkshire Bank is undertaking the only bank project under way right now in the Town of Bethlehem. The bank is building at the location of the former Saratoga Shoe Depot at Elsmere and Delaware avenues. This isn’t a new branch, though. Berkshire will be relocating from within Delaware Plaza to the more visible location.
That’s a win for the town, said Morelli.
“I think that Berkshire Bank, it’s a real credit to them that they’ve made a commitment to invest a lot of money on that corner, and it will look nice when it’s done,” Morelli said.
And no matter what one thinks about Delmar’s banking landscape, it’s not particularly busier than in other high-traffic areas of the Capital District. On Rotterdam’s Altamont Avenue area, there are eight banks lined up in the space of a few miles. Even the relatively tiny Town of Milton has five standalone branches downtown.
“I can certainly appreciate that observation,” said Johnson on the clustering of banks. “There are a lot of banks in the area, but I think we’re all coming here for the same reasons: because the market is very attractive.”
