Lyons National Bank readies new branch in Sennett

SENNETT — Construction continues on Lyons National Bank’s new branch office in the town of Sennett, which will be the community bank’s second location in the Auburn area.

The 10,000-square-foot building at 311 Grant Ave. (Route 5), just outside the Auburn city line, will be completed in mid-December, Thomas Kime, president of Lyons National Bank (LNB), tells CNYBJ. It will be about two miles away from the bank’s first Auburn office at 63 Genesee St. 

Auburn is an attractive market for LNB. It is a $725 million marketplace, making Auburn the bank’s largest market outside of Monroe County, Robert Schick, chairman and CEO of LNB and its holding company Lyons Bancorp, Inc., said in a letter accompanying the bank’s 2016 annual report.

LNB’s first Auburn branch, which opened in late April, is a leased space downtown. It allowed the community bank to enter the market sooner than waiting on construction of a new building, but the space has limitations, Kime says. That branch does not have drive-thru lanes or a community room, both of which will be part of the Grant Avenue branch. 

“The Grant Avenue office gives us a facility that’s more in line with what we typically offer,” Kime says.

Eight to 10 employees will work at the new branch, including a full-time residential mortgage lender, a mortgage processor, an employee handling commercial loans, and a financial advisor, Kime says.

Bouley & Associates, a construction firm based in Auburn, is managing the project, which broke ground in July. Auburn–based firm Beardsley Architects & Engineers designed the two-story building. The space was previously home to a La-Z-Boy furniture store before LNB bought the property and demolished the building.

LNB paid $639,000 to buy the 1.13 acre property from Andrew R. Goldberg in a sale that closed on May 24, according to Cayuga County online property records. The previous building that LNB knocked down encompassed more than 23,500 square feet. The demolition was completed in early June, according to an LNB news release.

About the bank 

Lyons National Bank was founded in 1852 and is based in Lyons. Once the Sennett branch opens, the community bank will have 15 branches in Monroe, Wayne, Ontario, Yates, Seneca, Cayuga, and Onondaga counties. Its Onondaga County office is in Jordan.

Lyons Bancorp was formed in 1987 as a holding company for both the bank and Lyons Realty Associates Corp, a real-estate investment trust, according to the company’s website. Lyons Bancorp (OTC: LYBC) is publicly traded over-the-counter.

LNB has generated steady growth in the past 20 years, increasing loans, deposits, and its investment portfolio while gradually expanding its geographic market, according to Lyons Bancorp’s 2016 annual report. 

In 2016, the banking company generated nearly $7.6 million in net income, up 3 percent from almost $7.4 million in 2015, according to the report. Lyons Bancorp’s net income totaled $7.2 million in 2014, $7 million in 2013, and $6.2 million in 2012.

The banking company’s total assets have also steadily grown from $665 million in 2012 to $733 million in 2013, $807 million in 2014, $868 million in 2015, and $956 million last year.

LNB says it grows largely by capturing business from its rivals.

“Upstate New York is hardly a growth area, so most of our gains come at the expense of our competitors. Even when we expand our footprint by opening new branches, our growth in these de novo branches comes from other banks and financial services companies,” Schick said in the letter accompanying the report.

LNB will face no shortage of competitors near its newest branch. It has branch offices of AmeriCU Credit Union, KeyBank, Chemung Canal Trust, M&T Bank, and Generations Bank all located within walking distance of its new branch, along that busy stretch of Route 5.         

SENNETT — Construction continues on Lyons National Bank’s new branch office in the town of Sennett, which will be the community bank’s second location in the Auburn area.

The 10,000-square-foot building at 311 Grant Ave. (Route 5), just outside the Auburn city line, will be completed in mid-December, Thomas Kime, president of Lyons National Bank (LNB), tells CNYBJ. It will be about two miles away from the bank’s first Auburn office at 63 Genesee St. 

Auburn is an attractive market for LNB. It is a $725 million marketplace, making Auburn the bank’s largest market outside of Monroe County, Robert Schick, chairman and CEO of LNB and its holding company Lyons Bancorp, Inc., said in a letter accompanying the bank’s 2016 annual report.

LNB’s first Auburn branch, which opened in late April, is a leased space downtown. It allowed the community bank to enter the market sooner than waiting on construction of a new building, but the space has limitations, Kime says. That branch does not have drive-thru lanes or a community room, both of which will be part of the Grant Avenue branch. 

“The Grant Avenue office gives us a facility that’s more in line with what we typically offer,” Kime says.

Eight to 10 employees will work at the new branch, including a full-time residential mortgage lender, a mortgage processor, an employee handling commercial loans, and a financial advisor, Kime says.

Bouley & Associates, a construction firm based in Auburn, is managing the project, which broke ground in July. Auburn–based firm Beardsley Architects & Engineers designed the two-story building. The space was previously home to a La-Z-Boy furniture store before LNB bought the property and demolished the building.

LNB paid $639,000 to buy the 1.13 acre property from Andrew R. Goldberg in a sale that closed on May 24, according to Cayuga County online property records. The previous building that LNB knocked down encompassed more than 23,500 square feet. The demolition was completed in early June, according to an LNB news release.

About the bank 

Lyons National Bank was founded in 1852 and is based in Lyons. Once the Sennett branch opens, the community bank will have 15 branches in Monroe, Wayne, Ontario, Yates, Seneca, Cayuga, and Onondaga counties. Its Onondaga County office is in Jordan.

Lyons Bancorp was formed in 1987 as a holding company for both the bank and Lyons Realty Associates Corp, a real-estate investment trust, according to the company’s website. Lyons Bancorp (OTC: LYBC) is publicly traded over-the-counter.

LNB has generated steady growth in the past 20 years, increasing loans, deposits, and its investment portfolio while gradually expanding its geographic market, according to Lyons Bancorp’s 2016 annual report. 

In 2016, the banking company generated nearly $7.6 million in net income, up 3 percent from almost $7.4 million in 2015, according to the report. Lyons Bancorp’s net income totaled $7.2 million in 2014, $7 million in 2013, and $6.2 million in 2012.

The banking company’s total assets have also steadily grown from $665 million in 2012 to $733 million in 2013, $807 million in 2014, $868 million in 2015, and $956 million last year.

LNB says it grows largely by capturing business from its rivals.

“Upstate New York is hardly a growth area, so most of our gains come at the expense of our competitors. Even when we expand our footprint by opening new branches, our growth in these de novo branches comes from other banks and financial services companies,” Schick said in the letter accompanying the report.

LNB will face no shortage of competitors near its newest branch. It has branch offices of AmeriCU Credit Union, KeyBank, Chemung Canal Trust, M&T Bank, and Generations Bank all located within walking distance of its new branch, along that busy stretch of Route 5.