Vigilance Pays

When you walk into the headquarters of C1 Bank in downtown St. Petersburg, be forewarned. The CEO can see you long before you see him.

Trevor Burgess likes to keep an eye on things. And people. From his desk at the helm of his open-concept corporate center, he can look out at the rows of accountants, underwriters and administrative workers from the three Florida banks he has already acquired. And he can see the bank entrance and the visitor fidgeting on a chair opposite the reflective wall tiles of the foyer.

Burgess can even see his next frontier at the far corner, where workers are hammering away, renovating space for 30 new employees from Doral-based U.S. Century Bank, which C1 is scheduled to acquire Dec. 31. The deal would more than double C1's assets, propelling them to $2.2 billion.