Gateway Bank getting new customers

Gulf Coast banks are getting whacked like a piñata lately, with capital requirements and cease and desist orders falling like candy.

But Shaun Merriman, president and chief executive of Sarasota-based Gateway Bank of Southwest Florida, is trying to do some attacking of his own. In the process, Merriman says he's taking the advice of business experts who counsel small business owners to use the recession as a time to reload, not retrench.

To wit: Merriman's bank recently completed a $250,000 remodel of its new headquarters, in a three-story building just south of downtown Sarasota.

The project accomplished three goals for Merriman: It got his bank out of its cramped offices in a downtown office suite; it saved a well-known historic architecture building from becoming a CVS drugstore; and it served as his most public message yet that Gateway is a healthy bank that hasn't been marred by the current banking climate.

Gateway has $97 million in assets as of Sept 30. Since it only began operating in earnest early last year, the bank doesn't have any nonperforming loans in its portfolio — a competitive advantage Gateway's loan officers have been using in seeking new clients.

But the centerpiece of Merriman's beat-the-recession mission is Gateway's new headquarters, a Jack West-designed building at the corner of U.S. 41 and Bahia Vista Street. The building, one of the most visible examples of what's known as the Sarasota school of architecture, has been home to several banks over the past 30 years, most recently a BB&T branch.

Merriman, who founded Gateway in 2007, saw an opportunity in renovating that building, as opposed to buying a new headquarters. “It's easy to go out and buy a building,” Merriman tells Coffee Talk. “It's another thing to renovate an historic structure.”

One of Merriman's favorite parts of the new building is Gateway's Internet cafe. It's a room, off to the side of the teller stations, that is Wi-Fi connected, has a TV tuned into CNBC and a fridge filled with drinks and snacks. The room is open to Gateway customers anytime the bank is open. Says Merriman: “Everything we do is to drive consumers to come into the bank.”

That goal is working, by at least one count. Merriman says about 20 new customers have strolled into the bank the first two weeks, many of whom have already opened new accounts.