Wachovia to Open Financial Center Here

The Wachovia Corporation will open a 5,000-sq.-ft. financial center in Pacific Palisades this summer as it expands aggressively into the Southern California market. Occupying the former Coldwell Banker location (between Designers Rug Resource and the woman’s clothing store Margano), Wachovia will fill a space that has been empty since the summer of 2006. ‘Our targeted open date is July 29,’ said George Swygert, who provides executive leadership to Wachovia’s retail and small business banking operations in Southern California and Arizona. He and his wife relocated to Brentwood with their young daughter 18 months ago and have become active members at St. Matthew’s Church. ‘When I first came out to California,’ Swygert told the Palisadian-Post Tuesday, ‘I looked for a site in the Palisades but there wasn’t much commercial space available. We were fortunate to find a place near the Village Green, smack dab in the middle of town on the main street.’ Another advantage: 10 parking spaces behind the building. He said the long-vacant Office Supplier space across the street was too small. The Palisades branch is larger than most of Wachovia’s branches and will be comparable in size to the Bank of America branch. What about the presence of eight other established banks within two blocks? Doesn’t this worry Wachovia? ‘Coffee Bean is right across from Starbucks, right?’ Swygert said, laughing. ‘All of us offer special services, and with the affluent population here, there are plenty of dollars to go around for everybody.’ He added, ‘When we enter a market, our reputation for giving great service usually affects our peers. We hope we will add value to the citizens whether they decide to bank with us or not.’ Wachovia, the fourth largest U.S. bank behind Citigroup, Bank of America and JP Morgan Chase, offers a full array of financial services through offices in 21 states and Washington, D.C. At year’s end it had 163 branches in California, including two in Brentwood and one in Malibu, with a new branch opening soon in Santa Monica. ‘Pacific Palisades fills out the Westside for us,’ said Swygert, 40, who has worked his entire career with Wachovia. ‘This is a very desirable market for us.’ He’s also enthusiastic about living so close to town and getting involved in the community. ‘This is like a small town in the Midwest or the South somewhere, especially on the Fourth of July, where you go out the night before and put chairs along the parade route,’ Swygert said. ‘We come over here for the farmers market every Sunday and we eat at places like Dante’s.’ Already aware of the non-chain sentiments among many Palisades residents, Swygert noted that Wachovia ‘is a very active player in the local communities where we operate. We have established what we call an employee involvement group in Century City, and they pick projects our employees want to get involved in as volunteers and with corporate support.’ A prime example: Wachovia supports employee volunteerism through its Time Away from Work for Community Service policy, giving all employees four hours per months’or six days per year’of paid time off to volunteer in local communities. _______