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Alex Suarez, who started Atlantabased United Americas Bank in 1999, is spearheading an effort to start a new Midtown Bank & Trust Co.
The bank, to be capitalized initially with $10.5 million, has some of Midtown's important names on its board, including Jim Borders, president of Atlanta developer The Novare Group, Barry Real Estate President Chris Schoen and Beau King, vice president of Kim King Associates.
Others on the board include:
* Sean Boyd, a local real estate developer and founder of local investment firm Boyd Capital Partners,
* Joseph Chipman, a former executive with BB&T Corp.,
* Blair Schmidt-Fellner, a publisher with Endurance Media,
* Terry Blum, dean of Georgia Tech's DuPree College of Management,
* Eric Hartz, former president of S1 Corp. and former CEO of Zapmedla,
* Jeffrey Lunsford, executive of TogetherSoft Corp., which was sold to Borland Software Corp. last year.
"This bank is going to be focused on private banking to business professionals," said John Kline, a principal with Mauldin & Jenkins LLC, a CPA consulting firm that was hired by the group to help with the application process. The bank plans to initially cap loans at about $2.5 million, Kline said.
Midtown Bank & Trust currently is awaiting approval from the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance. An answer is expected within...