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Commerce Bancorp of New Jersey has selected two sites for its "stores" in the Lehigh Valley - at West Tilghman Street and Hausman Road in South Whitehall Township and at Easton Avenue and Stefko Boulevard in Bethlehem.
The stores are expected to open in the first quarter of next year.
"We see the Lehigh Valley as a 20-store market for us and we'll probably have five stores open by the end of '05 in Lehigh and Northampton counties," says Glenn Holck, president of Commerce Bank/Pennsylvania.
Last week, Commerce announced that Tim McDonald, a well-known veteran of Lehigh Valley banking, will become president of Commerce Bancorp of the Lehigh Valley, beginning July 1.
McDonald, who had co-founded Ambassador Bank of the Commonwealth in South Whitehall Township, is enthusiastic about working for Commerce.
"Commerce Bank is one of the few exciting things going on in the banking industry," he says. "Everything else is cost-sensitive."
In early April, when announced it would be coming to the Lehigh Valley, officials said they would tap a local banking leader to head the division, and it has.
McDonald, 62, who most recently was a senior strategist for BNKStrategies in Hanover Township, Northampton County, says he was happy when the phone rang: "I've got one more career (in banking) left in me ... and who knows the market better than me?"
McDonald had been in charge of Ambassador from its inception in 1990, and under his stewardship, it grew to $280 million in assets by 1997 when it was sold to Fulton Financial Corp. based 'in Lancaster for...