Downtown Cartersville Bank of America Branch Set To Close

The Bank of America branch on East Main Street in downtown Cartersville—a building that has been occupied by banks since 1948—is set to close Jan. 31, 2014.

Cartersville Patch obtained a copy of a letter from Bank of America advising customers they should transfer or close their safe deposit boxes at the branch no later than Jan. 3 due to the coming permanent closure of the branch. 

The reason Bank of America is shuttering the branch's doors is that banking customers are changing the way they bank—more are using online banking and mobile banking via smartphones, said spokesman Matthew Daily. He added the bank has seen a decline in the number of traditional transactions at local branches, but mentioned Bank of America is opening a new branch in nearby Canton.

A second Bank of America branch at 829 Joe Frank Harris Parkway SE, which is 2.3 miles from the downtown Cartersville branch, will remain open and is considered the receiving banking center, Daily said.

But safe deposit box availability at the smaller branch is limited, according to Daily.

To lessen the impact of the closure on customers, Bank of America has installed a new ATM, which will be operational Friday, at 106 S. Tennessee St. in Cartersville. The ATMs at 102 E. Main St. will be unavailable Jan. 31, 2014, when the branch closes.

Daily said Bank of America will work with employees of the downtown branch to find other opportunities for them at other branches or within the company. Any layoffs would depend on the needs of existing and remaining branches and the market area, he added.

Bank of America currently leases a portion of the first floor of the building at 102 E. Main St., which also is occupied by Management Recruiters of Cartersville, according to property manager Michael Howren of Michael Howren Realty.

Howren said a group owns the building and likely will be looking for a tenant to replace Bank of America, which now leases 7,000 square feet.

"We just don't know," he said in a phone interview with Patch. "We may entertain the idea of selling the whole building," which encompasses a complete city block.

Management Recruiters leases 3,000 square feet, and 8,000 and 3,000 square feet of space are available on the second and third floors, respectively, Howren said.

A bank has occupied the building since 1948 when Luke Pettit helped organize The Cartersville Bank, which later was acquired by C&S Bank, according to the Cartersville-Bartow County Chamber of Commerce's Business Hall of Fame. C&S became part of NationsBank in 1991, before a later merger created Bank of America, according to Wikepedia.

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