West Bend, WI – Forte Bank is moving ahead with construction of its new branch at 555 Wildwood Road, just to the south of Stein’s Gardens & Gifts in West Bend, WI.
Bid documents went public over Christmas and construction is starting in April with occupancy targeted for Christmas 2024. Design plans are below.
Forte (1)
The parcel sold to Forte Bank, Hartford, WI, on July 3, 2023, for $180,000.
Prior to that the last sale was December 28, 2017, for $100,000.
Timothy Purman is the President and CEO at Forte Bank in Hartford, WI.
“We purchased it as part of our strategic planning process, looking forward to where our bank might grow but we don’t have any formal plans right now,” said Purman.
Forte Bank was originally First National Bank of Hartford; it was 2019 when it converted from a national bank charter to a state bank charter. “We changed to Forte Bank, but everything else stayed the same within the organization with staffing and our systems… we just changed our charter,” said Purman.
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The bank itself has been in Hartford since 1907.
Forte Bank has two other branches; Slinger opened in 1992 and the branch in Richfield opened in 2012.
“We don’t have any plans or format where we open a branch in a different community every 20 years,” said Purman.
“Our plans are all based on the economy and what we think are good fits for us, so we acquired the parcel in West Bend along the same lines of what we did in Menomonee Falls. These communities may be good fits for us, and we want to be in a good position for owning a parcel of land if that opportunity presents itself.”
