
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, September 2, 1993                   TAG: 9309020362
SECTION: NATL/INTL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FIRST UNION TO SAVE ROANOKE BRANCHES

First Union National Bank of Virginia said Wednesday it will keep open all of its Dominion branches in the Roanoke Valley, bowing to neighborhood pressure to maintain operations at a marginally profitable branch in Southeast Roanoke.

The company last month said it was considering closing the office, on Ninth Street Southeast, as part of a consolidation and reduction of branch banks First Union acquired as part of its purchase of Dominion Bank.

Residents of the neighborhood protested loudly, saying that many of them lack transportation and would not be able to walk to the bank's next-closest offices, in downtown Roanoke.

Dominion is the only bank serving Southeast Roanoke; other banks already have closed branches in the depressed area.

"The citizens raised some real and sincere concerns about access to banking services," said Byron Yost, president of First Union's Roanoke region. "And we took those concerns seriously."

Yost said First Union "listened to our customers in that neighborhood and we heard their message. In the end we agreed with them."

Dale Allen, president of the Southeast Action Forum, a neighborhood civic group, said he was elated at the news Yost gave him.

"We're real pleased," Allen said. The organization helped turn out more than 150 people at a meeting with bank officials last month.

He said the bank's action resulted from a community effort, and he praised the bank for being open in its decision-making.

Allen said the bank apparently decided it could live with the amount of business for the location, where many of its customers are elderly residents on fixed incomes with limited demand for loans.

First Union also said it had rejected consolidating its branches on Melrose Avenue and Peters Creek Road.

First Union will continue with 15 branches in the Roanoke Valley, but the region will reduce its outlying branches from eight to five.

\ BRANCH CONSOLIDATIONS\ FIRST UNION'S PLANS\ \ In Blacksburg-Christiansburg area, replace the branch in Christiansburg and the South Main Street branch in Blacksburg with a new branch near the intersection of U.S. 460 and Virginia 114. The existing branches will remain open until the new building is finished in the spring of 1994.\ \ Sell Smith Mountain Lake branch in Moneta to another financial institution, as yet undetermined. The sale is expected early next year.\ \ Close Pembroke branch in December and consolidate that branch's accounts into the Pearisburg office.

by CNB