Katahdin Trust embarks on $1.4 million bank expansion

Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Joseph Cyr
BANK EXPANSION — Katahdin Trust Company is adding a $1.4 million expansion to it corporate office in Houlton. Showing off the new addition are Jon Prescott, left, president and CEO, and Matthew Nightingale, senior vice president, treasurer and CFO.
By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
    HOULTON — Drive along the North Road in Houlton and chances are you will see a large wood-frame construction project rapidly taking shape.
    That project is a $1.4 million, 4,800 square foot addition to the operations center of Katahdin Trust Company which, when completed, will mark the third time the bank has needed to expand to meet its growing demand for space.
    Once complete, the center will boast 18,000 square feet of office space capable of housing up to 68 employees and features an expanded conference room/training area able to host upwards of 191 staff members, as well as an employee lounge area. The project will also see the bank connect to public water and sewer for the first time.
    “It will be a big upgrade for us,” explained Matthew Nightingale, senior vice president, treasurer and CFO for Katahdin Trust. “We have really grown a lot since the time we first built this facility.
    “When we started here, we only had 20 people,” added Jon Prescott, president and CEO for Katahdin Trust.
    A&L Construction of Presque Isle is the contractor for the project, while North Peak Architects of Presque Isle designed the new addition. The completed wing will match the existing façade and also includes creating a retaining wall to separate the parcel from the Shiretown Motor Inn parking lot.
    The bank opened its operations center on the North Road in Houlton in 1997, with a 6,200 square foot building.
    “At that time, we had seven locations with $125 million in assets,” Nightingale explained. “Over the last several years we have grown to 20 facilities, including this one, with 17 branch offices and $570 million in assets.”
    The Houlton building is the “heartbeat” of Katahdin Trust’s branch offices, providing most of the administrative services such as accounting, human resources, marketing and technology for the company. The commercial lending headquarters is based in Presque Isle.
    “A big need for this expansion was growth in our technology department,” Nightingale added. “We are also at seat capacity right now. We had 20 employees when we first came to this location and are now up to 43 employees (in the Houlton office).”
    Including the Houlton branch, 61 individuals (32 percent of Katahdin Trust’s workforce of 191 employees) work in the Shiretown. Expanding its market presence to a larger audience, while still remaining a local community bank is a challenge Katahdin Trust officials are trying to balance, Prescott said.
    “Northern Maine is our roots,” Prescott said. “We have the No. 1 deposit share in northern Maine. We have a great branch network in The County, with more branches than any network in northern Maine. Our local flavor is not going to change because we base all of our decisions here.”
    Prescott added that while the bank has opened branches in the Bangor area over the past two years, Katahdin Trust was still a “local community bank” at heart.
    “Our ownership base and shareholders is mostly local,” he said. “What is quite amazing is that our employees in this region have given 14,000 hours of volunteer time in the past year. They are out in the community all the time, telling us what the needs are from both a business and charitable standpoint. They are our eyes and ears in the community.”
    Katahdin Trust Company provides banking services to individuals and businesses in Ashland, Bangor, Caribou, Eagle Lake, Easton, Fort Fairfield, Hampden, Houlton, Island Falls, Limestone, Mars Hill, Oakfield, Patten, Presque Isle, Van Buren and Washburn.
    Prescott added there are no immediate plans for expansion in areas south of The County.
    “We’ve done quite a bit of expansion in recent years and for now we need to grow into that,” he said. “But we are always looking for opportunities when they present themselves. In Maine, you have to take advantage of them when they come along.”
    The project is slated to be completed in the first quarter of 2013.
    Last month, Katahdin Trust opened its second location in Bangor with a branch on Springer Drive, in the Christmas Tree Shops Plaza, that also serves as the bank’s Stillwater Avenue offices. In May, the bank was named a Top 200 Community Bank for the sixth consecutive year by “American Banker” and “U.S. Banker” magazines.ﾺ