PNC has announced it will close its branch at 140 N. Main St. in Bel Air on July 15. Customers have been notified that their accounts will be moved to the other PNC branch in Bel Air less than four blocks away. (MATT BUTTON | AEGIS STAFF, Patuxent Homestead / April 5, 2012) |
PNC Bank plans to close its branch on Bel Air's North Main Street this summer and move all customers to another location a few blocks down the street.
When the branch closes, it will mark the end of a era for several generations of customers who have used the bank at the V formed by the division of North Main and Bond streets.
The PNC branch at 140 N. Main St. will close June 15, spokeswoman Amy Vargo said in an e-mail Thursday. It's one of two PNC branches in Harford County's financial center in downtown Bel Air.
"Customers have been notified that their accounts will be moved to the PNC Branch in Bel Air located at 130 South Bond Street which is less than a half mile away," Vargo wrote. "They do not need to take any action, with the exception of those with safe deposit boxes that will receive instructions."
No specific reason for the closing was given.
"PNC often evaluates its branch network to ensure it serves our customers as efficiently as possible. Occasionally, we determine that we can meet our customers' needs more cost-effectively — and often better — by moving or consolidating branches," Vargo wrote.
PNC has at least seven branches in Harford County, including the one on North Main Street. The bank is based in Pittsburgh and has 2,500 locations in 16 states and Washington, D.C.
The North Main branch was originally opened more than 40 years ago by what was then known as Forest Hill State Bank, a locally owned and operated bank started at the crossroads of Rock Spring and Jarrettsville roads in Forest Hill. The Bel Air branch was Forest Hill's first expansion beyond its namesake community, and it became the bank's busiest location.
In the 1990s, Forest Hill, which was by then owned by Mercantile Bank of Baltimore, built a new bank and headquarters at the intersection of South Bond Street and Churchville Road in Bel Air, about four blocks south of the North Main branch.
The Forest Hill name in Harford County was eventually replaced by another Mercantile affiliate, County Bank. Mercantile was taken over by PNC in 2007, and PNC subsequently converted the former's branches to its own name. There are two other banks just south of the PNC branch that is closing, while a third just to the north closed in November 2005.
This story has been updated to reflect a new closing date for the bank of June 15. The previous version's date, provided by a PNC spokesperson, was incorrect.
