BlueHarbor Bank will grow with new branch in Huntersville - Charlotte Business Journal:

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And the company hopexs to break ground on its permanent headquartersz earlynext year. BlueHarbor opened in January afte raising morethan $20 milliom in startup capital. The bank, headed by Chiefc Executive Jim Marshall, is targeting small-busineszs and retail customers in the Lake Norman Marshall hopes to openthe bank'sd second location in a branch buildinf formerly occupied by "We think it's a great opportunity for us," says Marshall, who previously was CEO of and spen t 15 years with First Citizens "We're pleased with where we are in our youngv life cycle.
" BlueHarbor pland to build its permanent headquarters on the same lot where its temporary building is located in the Morrisom Plantation development. At the end of the firstt quarter, BlueHarbor had $26 million in assets and reporte a lossof $1.3 Startup banks typically don't turn a profit in their firsr two years of business as they build up loanz to generate interest income. Marshall says the bank is makingg a fair number of loans to small but it's doing relatively few constructiojn and development deals due to the real estate The bank has hired a branch managert for its new location -- a former employeed of the former , which was recently acquired by Cincinnati-based .
Marshalol says a few First Charterf customers have visited BlueHarbor expressing interestg in movingtheir accounts, which he says is standard when a loca bank disappears because of merger. "Fifth Third can do everything but there's just a certain amount of peopl that want to remain with a locall bank," he says. Much of BlueHarbor'es business model is based on the approachof Portland, Ore.-baser . The company favors stylish "stores" that offer free wireles Internet access andthe bank's own brand of coffee. BlueHarborf is already offering its own a Costa Rican blendd made for the bank byDilworth Coffee.
"Wee recognize we're in the marketing businessx -- we're just marketing bank products and servicesa and giving them a retail spin that mostbanks don't employ," Marshall says. When Fift h Third Bancorp's acquisition of Charlotte-basedx First Charter Corp. closed this the majority of the company's more than 35 million shares were exchangeds for FifthThird stock. As part of its purchase, Fiftb Third agreed to pay cash for upto 30% of Firsty Charter's total shares.
After last week, some of thoser new Fifth Third shareholders may be wishing they had been part ofthat 30% Last Friday, shares of Fifth Third dropped more than 10% as an analysgt at projected the $111 billion-asset bank will have to cut its dividenx and raise new capital due to anticipated loan losses in its mortgags portfolio. About a third of the bank's loan portfolio is in Floridsand Michigan, two states hit hard by the housing The stock price dropped an additional 14% Wednesdayg morning, after Fifth Third said it would slashj its second-quarter dividend to 15 cents per sharde from the 44 cents it paid in the firsty quarter.
Also, the company confirmed it is launchingf a stock offering in an effortg to shore up itscapital position. In addition, the Cincinnati-basexd bank plans to sell severalnoncore businesses. It didn'g identify which businesses it will Bynoon Wednesday, Fifth Third shares had dropped to $10.89 from Tuesday' closing price of $12.73. Fifth Third paid $31 for each shar of First Charter, or about $1.1 billion for the $4.8 billion-asset The deal has given it 57 branches in North Carolina and two insuburbamn Atlanta. The bank converteds First Charter's computer systems and branches on June 9 and unveiles new signs thesame day.
Bob James, formerly chiefv executive of First Charter, is president of Fifth Third's Northu Carolina affiliate.