FLORENCE, SC (WBTW) – Carolina Bank is moving its headquarters from the city of Darlington to Downtown Florence.
The bank’s headquarters and its offices will move to the old Art Trail Gallery at the corner of North Irby and West Evans Street in the core of Downtown Florence.
The relocation is a $4.8 million dollar expansion for Carolina Bank.
Carolina Bank Headquarters in Darlington will remain as a retail branch until the building in in Florence is complete.
City of Florence Downtown Development Manager Ray Reich says the “Art Trail Gallery” building once served as a masonic temple and then transitioned into retail space.
Reich says Carolina Bank will restore the building back to like it once was in the early 1900s.
“The bank looked at that spot and certainly the Art Trail Gallery was put in there in the very beginning as temporary space, we wanted to sell that building and put it to a higher and better higher use because all the art trail was using was a portion of the first floor,” mentioned Reich.
Once a contractor is chosen then the bank will then began their move to Downtown Florence.
Reich says additionally the expansion will bring more jobs along with other advantages.
“It also brings about 60 well paid employees into the downtown and those people need some place to eat lunch and places to shop and so that is one of the reasons why it’s so important to bring both retail restaurant and professional office space downtown,” said Reich.
The Art Trail Gallery will move to a permanent location on Dargan Street.
Carolina Bank hopes to have construction completed by this time next year or early in the year 2018.