Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 10, 1993 TAG: 9301080117
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
DOMINION'S EMPTY SPACES EXPECTED TO FILL UP
First Union Corp. will inherit a surplus of office space when it completes acquisition of Dominion Bankshares. But the bank's new president expects to fill it all within a few years.Benjamin P. Jenkins III, who already is working in Roanoke in anticipation of the merger with Dominion on March 31, said creation of more jobs is "something that is real important to us."
First Union won't be dumping any office space on the Roanoke real estate market, Jenkins said, because it will be needed.
First Union is continuing to study the possibility of moving some functions to Roanoke from other cities where space is tight or expensive or both.
But Jenkins doesn't anticipate a major shift anytime soon. "I don't think it will be a huge number all at one time."
Instead, he looks for a gradual move of a small number of jobs from time to time over the coming year.
Most of the additional jobs in Roanoke, he said, will be triggered by growth of First Union Bank in Virginia, both internally and through mergers with other banks in the state.
His models for Roanoke's future are Jacksonville, Fla., and North Wilkesboro, N.C.
Jobs were cut when First Union acquired banks in those communities, he explained. But after five or six years, Jenkins said, both gained more positions than they had originally.
He predicted that the same thing will happen in Roanoke in the same time frame. The growth, he said, will absorb the space and boost staffing needs.
Many of First Union's top managers came to the company through mergers over the last few years, Jenkins said, so they are sympathetic to what happens here.
Not counting branch banks, Dominion has long-term leases on space at its headquarters building in downtown Roanoke and at the nearby Dominion Tower. It owns its operations center on Plantation Board, the credit card center on Airport Road and Valley Court on Thirlane Road.
Besides the Dominion acquisition, First Union is in the process of merging with a bank in South Carolina and two in Georgia. Since First Union started talking to Dominion about merger, it has purchased thrifts in Florida and Northern Virginia.
All of these acquisitions are on schedule, Jenkins said, despite the large number First Union must handle at one time.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based company is growing so fast, he said, because an opportunity for a merger presents itself at only one point in time. If the chance is passed by, he said, it will be gone forever.
Jenkins predicted that all of the regulatory approvals for the merger with Dominion will be collected by the March 31 target date.
The Federal Reserve Bank is expected to act perhaps as soon as this month, but Jenkins said other agencies must sign off on the proposal. They include the Washington Banking and Financial Institutions Board and a committee of Washington's City Council.
When the merger finally happens, Jenkins said, First Union will be "committed to being a good corporate citizen" in Roanoke. He said the company is responsive and involved in community activities.
Its $300,000 gift to Renew Roanoke for renovation of Hotel Roanoke is only the first example of this commitment, he said.
But he noted that change is inevitable in the merger. Dominion and First Union are two companies with separate cultures and different ways of doing things.
The goal, he said, is to create a united company that can focus on being the best banking organization in the state. "That's what I spend time thinking about."
Lending decisions for the Virginia bank will be made locally, not in Charlotte, he said. So will its other banking decisions.
Jenkins said it's too early to tell how many Dominion employees will leave the valley to take jobs in the First Union system in North Carolina or other states south to Florida.
What's know is that the valley will lose 850 jobs by October, when the companies should be fully meshed. Jenkins said still other workers were offered jobs elsewhere for which they qualified, taking them outside the valley.
Employees offered a move are not yet required to answer, Jenkins said, so no figures are available on the likely migration.
Jenkins also said he and other First Union managers "haven't spent time blue-skying" over what might happen if Congress approves interstate banking in the next few years. Many observers predict that this would eliminate a need for separate headquarters operations in each state.
No matter what happens to banking down the road, Jenkins said, "we see ourselves as a survivor."
Interstate banking, he said, would be another change presenting an opportunity for First Union to turn it into an advantage.
"As a company we're real comfortable with change," Jenkins said. "We're real leaders and managers of change."