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

DATE: TUESDAY, August 9, 1994                   TAG: 9408100014
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: C8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

FIRST UNION MOVES TO TANGLEWOOD

First Union National Bank of Virginia said Monday it plans to operate a branch in the former Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles building at Tanglewood Mall.

The 6,100-square-foot bank branch, scheduled to open in December, will be the second-largest of First Union's 15 Roanoke Valley branches, smaller only than the bank's downtown office.

``It is an ideal location, in that the mall has a lot of traffic,'' said David Scanzoni, First Union's spokesman. ``It is a very popular commerce location.''

It marks First Union's return to the Tanglewood market.

The bank's predecessor, Dominion Bank, operated a branch inside the Kroger supermarket at Tanglewood. First Union closed those offices, which now are operated by NBC Bank.

In conjunction with the opening of the new branch, First Union said it will close and sell the building that houses its Virginia 419 branch, less than a mile from the mall.

The three-lane drive-through building adjoining the existing branch will remain open. That branch is near the intersection of Electric Road and Chaparral Drive.

All accounts and safe-deposit boxes from the 419 branch will be moved to the Tanglewood location, the bank said.

The dozen employees of the closed branch will be shifted to the new office, Scanzoni said. Because the new branch will be much larger than the old one, there also may be opportunities for staff expansion, he said.

The new branch will have seven teller windows, seven private offices and five drive-through lanes, one with an automated teller machine.

First Union said it will spend $750,000 for an exterior facelift and interior renovations of the 18-year-old building.

First Union will lease the former DMV building from J.M. Kane & Co. of Raleigh, N.C., the mall's owner.

First Union also is negotiating with Kane to install a teller machine inside the mall.

Also, First Union said it will install a teller machine at Hollins College by October. It recently installed one at Community Hospital of Roanoke Valley.

by CNB