Page 15 - BusinessWest June 13, 2022

Banking & Financial Services
Landmark Decision
Country Bank Donates Its Former Headquarters to the Town of Ware
Country Bank recently introduced a new marketing slogan — ‘Made to Make a Difference.’ There have been myriad examples of that mindset over the bank’s 172-year history, but perhaps none bigger than the recent announcement that the bank would gift its former headquarters property
on Main Street, valued
at more than $3 million, to the town, with the intention of it becoming the site of a new police station and perhaps home to other town offices.
PBy George O’Brien
aul Scully says that, over
the past few years, or since Country Bank started ramp- ing up discussions about what to do with its vacant
former headquarters building on Main Street in Ware, there had been talks with various real estate developers about the property.
But they didn’t go very far, said Scully, the bank’s president, noting that those making inquiries were “more speculators than investors,” as he put it.
“And we didn’t want to sell it on a speculative basis and then not have it maintained,” he explained. “Or have someone say ‘we bought this with the intention of having some office move in but it never came to fruition’ and now the property is abandoned.
“Yes, we were approached by some people,” he went on. “But we really
The property on Main Street has always played an important role in the economic vibrancy of the town, and this is expected to continue with its new function as a police station.
BusinessWest BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES JUNE 13, 2022 15