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Central Point gets new VRB branch Data center there could employ 40 people By SUSAN JAY CENTRAL POINT -- Valley of the Rogue Bank will have another stop off of Interstate 5. VRB, a longtime local banking business in Jackson and Josephine counties, plans to build a new full-service branch at the Central Point I-5 interchange. That will bring the total number of VRB sites to 14, with the southernmost branch in Ashland and the northernmost branch in Merlin. But the banking company with the motto "The Last Real Bank" is making a bigger commitment: It has plans to build a new two-story data processing center at the same site that eventually could employ up to 40 people. "This is a substantial development for us," said VRB president Bill Haden. "We're going to spend about $1 million on the branch and could spend another $1 million to $1.5 million on the new data center, and then we're going to also create some new jobs." The new branch will be built on a 1.9-acre lot on the east side of the interchange. It's situated on the south side of East Pine Street, between Bear Creek and Hamrick Road, north of USF Reddaway Trucking. The project's site plan review is scheduled to go before the city's Planning Commission at 7 p.m. Oct. 5. City administrators are excited about VRB's move here. "What it does is it brings more of an employment base to Central Point and starts to move us away from being exclusively a bedroom community," said Tom Humphrey, city planner. "Reddaway has done the same thing by bringing its truck operations into the city." While he welcomes the development, Humphrey plans to make sure that downtown Pine Street remains competitive with the new commercial developments coming to the east side of the interchange. VRB's president is excited about the location and wants to break ground as soon as possible. The doors probably won't open until early 2000, but the bank may erect a temporary structure for service before then. Haden said the new Central Point location fills some crucial needs. "The primary reason that we're there is because we've got a number of customers who reside in the Central Point community, and we realized that it was an area that really helped complement the rest of our branches, as far as convenience of location," Haden said. Another plus for the location is the new developments occurring on the east side of the Central Point interchange, including residential and commercial development. For example, Naumes Inc. wants to develop a commercial center along East Pine Street with mixed uses including retail, lodging and businesses, and the Pulver and Leever real estate firm has plans for a motel and restaurant. The site offers VRB a central location for the new data processing center and has easy access to Interstate 5 and the airport. VRB has a 4,000-square-foot data processing center on the second floor of its branch at Poplar Square. "We figure today we could use 10,000 square feet," Haden said. The data center, however, will likely not be built for 18 months. VRB will be the only bank on the east side of the interchange. Many of its competitors are located on the other end of Pine Street. The new location and expansion also pushes VRB closer to it strategic goal. "The plan of senior managers and the board is to grow Valley of the Rogue Bank to $500 million in assets by the year 2001," Haden said. Total assets are at $329 million, so the goal is ambitious but realistic, he said. All the growth is aimed right here in the two southern counties, Haden said, and VRB has no plans to sell to a larger banking chain. Today's Business Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA