Image Copyright LaSalle Bank
The Northeast corner of Ashland/Belmont/Lincoln is going to take on a whole new look with the sale of the LaSalle Bank branch from ABN AMRO to Chicago based Centrum Properties.
Peter Von Buol of Inside newspaper reports that the LaSalle Bank property has been sold with an eye towards mixed-use redevelopment (condos & retail). Plans for the site haven't been formalized... but I will definitely keep an eye out for any additional news released on this project.
Expect to see more redevelopment of bank sites such as this. LaSalle Bank as it exists now is the product of many mergers and acquisitions that have occured over the last decades. Many of their branches were once headquarters for neighborhood banks. These local bank headquarters represented the success of capitalism and were major status symbols in their neighborhoods often featuring grandiose lobbies, multiple floors of offices for all of the various departments and large vaults for safety deposit boxes.
As the banking industry has evolved, and operations consolidated, these elaborate bank branches sit underutilized with innefficient floor plans and empty offices. LaSalle's parent company (ABN Amro ) like all publicly traded corporations is charged with maximizing profits of their operations for their shareholders...as such it is only a matter of time before we see more grand old clunkers like this go down.
Paul Vranas
