SAN ANTONIO – Hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in and around downtown San Antonio.
One of the big projects coming to fruition is the new Jefferson Bank headquarters, which is now located on Broadway.
The new chairman of the bank recently spoke to KSAT 12 about the reason for the new building, the expansion of the business and strength of local community banks.
“Community banks like Jefferson Bank are really the backbone of America,” Paul McSween III, Jefferson Bank’s new chairman said.
McSween is the new chairman after 13 years as president.
“As chairman, you’re not going to see many changes,” McSween said.
But one of the big changes you will see is the new headquarters.
“It’s been something that’s been in the work for, I’d say, five to six years in the planning stages. And we’re now in the final months of completion,” McSween said.
The new headquarters is more than a $100 million building that is consolidating a lot of the workforce to one location, and inside, it is not just your average bank.
“We have some restaurants, really great restaurants going in on the ground floor. We’ve got some third party tenants going in the building,” McSween said.
The new building is designed around retaining and attracting top talent in San Antonio.
“It’s just a vibrant building full of energy. It’s got the latest technology,” he said.
McSween said it currently is a new era of banking and that the headquarters is going to be instrumental for employees.
Their bank has been going strong for 77 years and as a community bank they are thriving – unlike some other banks throughout the country.
“We watched very closely what happened with the banks in California. It’s a very different banking model, a different business model, different elements of risk than we bear here, in the community-banking sector,” McSween said.
The bank says they are doing so well, they even are expanding.
“We opened an office in Austin. We’re also in the Texas Hill Country. We also are in New Braunfels,” McSween said.
And they say they are just getting started.
“Jefferson Bank wouldn’t make this investment on Broadway if we weren’t planning to be here for a long time. We’re doing great. We’re excited to be in the banking business right now,” McSween said.