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Hernando seeing a boom in banking
By JENNIFER LIBERTO SPRING HILL -- The phones started ringing two weeks ago; the fax machine, last week. The copy machine and signs arrive this week. E-mail could be awhile. The only clue that a new bank is about to open at Spring Hill Commons, at Spring Hill Drive and U.S. 19, is three yellow-marked parking spots that warn potential parkers, mostly Gold's Gym users, that the spots are reserved for Community Bank. The new bank is part of a trend. New bank branches are bursting out all over Hernando County this fall. Three existing banks have opened or are opening additional branches in plum spots along Spring Hill Drive or Mariner Boulevard. And there is the new one: Zephyrhills-based Community National Bank, making its Hernando County debut in two weeks. "There's enough business to go around," said Morris Porton, a longtime Brooksville banker and a fixture in the Hernando business community. Porton shocked a few people when he left his upper management position at the county's largest bank six weeks ago to start a local branch of Community National Bank. With Porton at its helm as senior vice president, Community Bank, as it is commonly called, will start taking deposits Oct. 9 and will employ four people at its temporary offices at 5311 Spring Hill Drive, around the corner from Republic Bank. Porton said he decided to leave SunTrust Bank because Community Bank offered him a chance to do much of what he was doing at SunTrust, but with the power of making important banking decisions that SunTrust often makes in Atlanta, its headquarters. Porton left on good terms, said SunTrust Bank/Nature Coast chairman and chief executive officer Jim Kimbrough, a few days after Porton resigned. Porton said: "It was an excellent bank, but SunTrust has grown and tried to get more centralized, and a lot of the decisions were not being made locally." Now, Porton, 56, has plenty of decisions to make, including how and where to open a permanent location. He has his eye on the mecca of Hernando County banking: Mariner and State Road 50. Within a block or two, four banks already go head to head, including most of the big players: SunTrust, Bank of America, Capital City Bank and a new AmSouth Bank. "That particular area is probably the fastest growing area of the county," said Bob Little, city president for AmSouth in Ocala. Birmingham, Ala.-based AmSouth just purchased an old Huntington Bank location from SunTrust at that corner. The branch opened Sept. 3. SunTrust bought Huntington earlier this year. "That's why we have an interest there," Little said. Farther south, Regions Bank will open a new branch at 7539 Spring Hill Drive, near Kass Circle, by the end of October. The Birmingham-based bank's third location in the county is also an old Huntington bank, purchased from SunTrust. "We do have an ambition to have a larger presence in the Florida market as a whole," said Dale Dignum, Region's group president for Florida. Capital City recently broke ground on a second branch in Hernando, west of Barclay Avenue on Spring Hill Drive. "Our new office will be much larger and very well equipped to handle the needs of our growing client base, both individuals and businesses," said Scott Mellecker, vice president and community executive of the Tallahassee-based bank. Porton said he is ready for the competition and envisions a second Community Bank branch within five years. -- Staff writer Jean Hayes contributed to this report. Jennifer Liberto covers business and development in Hernando County and can be reached at 848-1434. Send e-mail to liberto@sptimes.com.
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