After closing a branch on the same block downtown, Bank of America plans to open a remote ATM center in a another well-known building on Center Street this summer.
Tara Burke, Bank of America media relations, said the storefront at 58 Center St. will have two ATMs and is slated to open around July 2.
“Across the country, we will be replacing every single one of our 16,000 ATMs with the latest generation technology,” she said, “adding new functionality and enabling clients to perform more types of transactions like cashing checks, choosing their preferred mix of bills when withdrawing cash and making credit card payments.”
Bank of America closed the branch at 100 Center St., located at the other end of the block, in September 2018. The former Wallingford Bank and Trust Company building had served as a bank for all 128 years of its existence.
“When we consolidate a financial center, sometimes it’s because it doesn’t make sense from a business perspective,” Burke said. “In this day and age, we have so many people banking online, and we’ve seen an uptick in our 26 million mobile banking customers. People can do the majority of their banking through their phone and now ATMs.”
The branch had operated at 100 Center St. since 2005 after the company acquired the building through its takeover of Fleet Financial Group.
“When we do close a financial center, we always look to see if there’s an opportunity to retain an ATM or add a remote site,” she said.
In December 2018, Jonathan Guillen, owner of the building at 58 Center St., filed a building permit to demolish interior non-load bearing walls and remove of old shelving and carpeting.
The roughly 1,000-square-foot storefront, at the corner of Center and Meadow streets, is the former location of Wallingford Optical, which closed in 2015 after 10 years at that location.