Apalachicola State Bank unveils plans

The Apalachicola State Bank has unveiled plans for a new bank, to rise by next spring on the site of the old one at Avenue E and Market Street.

Both the city's planning and zoning board, and city commission, have given preliminary approval to plans for the two-story, 6.400-square-foot structure, designed in keeping with the turn-of-the-century look of the earliest version of the bank.

With a red brick exterior, and two-story-high arched windows on the Avenue E front, the bank's architects, Bozarth and Associates, out of Panama City, have created a design that met with widespread approval by city officials.

General contractor for the project is GAC, also out of Panama City. They have said the entire structure, expected to begin in the middle of the month, can be done in eight months, which would mean completion by spring 2010.

The bank, a division of Coastal Community Bank, was burned, and later razed, after Joseph Mixon rammed a seafood truck into the side of it last November in an apparent suicide attempt. Last month he was sentenced to three years in state prison on charges stemming from the incident.

Donnie Gay, senior vice president with the bank, said insurance will cover the cost of the rebuild, expected to run upwards of $2 million.

Gay said the bank will re-use the original bank vault door, salvaged from the debris, but won't be able to re-use the century-old bricks in a structural role.

"We can't use them on the exterior of the bank but we will use them in the courtyard and other areas," he said. "We gave them (the city) quite a bit of leeway. We're allowing P & Z to go and pick out the brick we're going to use. We want to be sure it's historically relevant to downtown," Gay said.

A courtyard has been added to the site, in the area between the bank, the drive-through lanes and the adjacent soda fountain.

There are now four drive-through lanes, with three for personal banking, and a fourth featuring an automated teller machine on an island by itself. The night deposit, formerly on the Avenue E outer wall, will be moved to the drive-through, so customers don't have to leave their cars.

Inside the bank will be four teller stations, plus two serving the drive-through, same as before. But the lobby will be more expansive, with a two-story-high loft ceiling.

All offices will now have windows, Gay said, with an outdoor balcony, overlooking the river, atop the roof extending out over the drive-through lanes.

The bank will sit back from Avenue E more than did before, and the floor will be level, not sloping as before. As a result, steps will be added to the Avenue E entrance.

Gay said the bank will retain as a parking lot the four city lots between Water and Commerce streets that it owns, and where the trailer now sits which has handled transactions ever since the bank was destroyed.

"We have more transactions there, more people using that trailer, than any of our other 10 offices," he said.

The rebuilding process "has been a little slow and our customers have been very patient," said Gay. "But there's always something good that comes out of something bad."