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As Huntington Bancshares Inc. prepares to close its $587 million acquisition of Unizan Financial Corp., the Columbus-based bank is preparing to close the Unizan office on South Third Street.
In discussing Huntington first-quarter earnings, Huntington Chief Exeuctive Thomas E. Hoaglin said Unizan's downtown office would be consolidated into Huntingtons headquarters branch at 41 S. High St.
As many as nine other branches will be closed, but the locations have not been disclosed.
The Unizan branch, at 66 S. Third St., occupies 15,502 square feet leased since 1994 from Capital Square Ltd. The branch employs four full-time workers.
"We have communicated to Unizan employees our intention to close or consolidate eight of their offices," Hoaglin said. "In fact, we are going to be closing or consolidating two Huntington offices as well, where a Unizan office is close by, or maybe in a better location, or maybe just a better facility."
While some job losses are inevitable in the deal, for Canton-based Unizan, Huntington expects the Central Ohio impact to be minimal. The bank is looking to offer the majority of Unizan employees jobs at Huntington, Hoaglin said.
The merger should be completed in early July.
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