Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Money Keeps Talking at Toco Hill

I was out of town for a few days, and was inundated with questions as to what was going on at Toco Hill. Many of you messaged and tweeted me wondering what would be opening in the popular intown center, many hoping that it would be a restaurant, and NOT another bank.  Sadly, money talks, and Chase will be opening soonish.


Chicago-based Chase Bank will open a new freestanding branch at Toco Hill. The branch will be built in the outparcel of the Office Depot parking lot where an emissions testing business had operated for many years.

Chase will join a passel of bank branches in the area including Fidelity, SunTrust, PNC, Regions, Wells Fargo in addition to a Bank of America ATM.

Washington Mutual, or WaMu, as it came to be known, had a small branch next to Kroger Toco Hill, but it closed before the Chase buyout. Chase has added a number of new branches including an upcoming branch at Emory Commons and another on Cheshire Bridge Road on the site of a former Sonny's Real Pit Bar-B-Q.

Chase has also added drive-thru ATM centers where they were unable to add actual branches.  Examples of this that I've noticed recently are Parkside Shopping Center on Roswell Road and Perimeter Square near Perimeter Mall.

The Toco Hill outparcel is plenty big, as one can see by the amount of fencing up already.  A reliable source at Chick-fil-A said that they were at one point (a couple years ago) contemplating a new location in Toco Hill that would likely have been the spot where Chase is now building.

A Chase branch manager also reported that they would be relocating from their current logistically challenged location in Chamblee Village to a new location in Brookhaven.  I have thus far been unable to determine exactly where, but as many will recall, they and Chick-fil-A were both previously in talks to open on the site of the former Hastings on Peachtree Road in Brookhaven.

Comments? Gripes?  Thoughts?

6 comments:

SB said...

Good stuff Eli. I used to his that wamu all the time. Love the drive up atm at ansley and new one at perimeter.

Atlantan99 said...

@SB,

Thanks for the kudos. I too had an account at WaMu Toco Hill and was there for the grand opening. Back in the day I had Tucker Federal and after the RBC buyout, I went with WaMu. Pretty darn happy with Fidelity Bank these days :)

Thanks for the comments and for reading the site.

Anonymous said...

don't forget that Chase will redevelop (the now closed) pizza hut site @ Sydney Marcus & Piedmont.

Atlantan99 said...

@Anon,

Yes, there as well. Chase of course also redeveloped the former Linens 'N things at The Peach on Peachtree.

Thanks for your readerships and comments.

Carl Black said...

I'm pleasantly surprised to not be the only one who switched to WaMu (then known as Washington Mutual) when the opened at Toco Hill. I already had a mortgage with them, as they'd acquired Fleet, so having a Platinum account there for many years was perfect. (I also had a TuckFed account and had previously loved my SFNB account before they were also acquired by RBC). My timeline may be off, as I switched to DFB (now Fidelity) as my primary institution when I moved from North Druid Hills to Decatur in 2006. I believe this WaMu location (and several others, such as Cofer, Plaza Midtown, and Atlantic Station) were actually shuttered post-acquisition as they were deemed to be too small for the (IMHO) horrific redesigns planned by Chase as part of the rebranding. Like many, I ceased being a Chase banking customer a few years ago when they eliminated the grandfathered accounts to focus on monthly fees. I must say, though, this construction will be an upgrade to the shopping center, and it's a much more prominent location for them than the former space on LaVista.

Atlantan99 said...

@Carl,

Crazy you should mention all of those branches as I personally banked at eahc one! I thought back to it and you may be right that the locations closed post the Chase buyout. The Midtown Plaza store was especially small and I think it's still vacant.

Thanks as always for your comments and readership.

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