News story made available courtesy of Poughkeepsie Journal

Citizens Bank to rebuild at Rt. 9 mall

Thursday, September 13th, 2007

By Craig Wolf
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com

FISHKILL - Another sign of the revitalization of the Dutchess Mall is going up now.

Citizens Bank is building a branch office from the ground up to replace the existing one in one of the old mall buildings.

Citizens has had a branch office here for many years through the thick and thin of the mall's rise and fall.

It was a little more than a year ago Home Depot opened a newly built store here, bringing a new stream of shoppers to a nearly empty mall.

The planned opening for the branch is December and is on schedule, said Christy Calicchia, spokeswoman at the Albany regional office of Citizens.

"We looked at the marketplace and saw it as a continuing growth market for us and are investing this money to better serve our clients," she said.

The new office will be near the Route 9 front of the parking lot, near the main entrance.

Warm greeting
David Livshin, president and CEO of the Dagar Group Ltd., managing agent for the mall's owners, Hudson Properties LLC, said, "We are very pleased Citizens Bank stayed with us during the past several years when the property was in flux and are very excited about them opening in their new state-of-the art freestanding building."

The branch is still open in the southern section of the mall to which it moved in 2005 to make way for Home Depot, the construction of which required demolition of part of the mall's main building.

In the 1970s, the bank was owned by Albany Savings Bank. It later became part of Charter One which, in turn, merged into Citizens Bank.

The new branch will measure about 3,500 square feet. It will have a stone veneer base, precast colored concrete windowsills and anodized frame and glass storefront entrances and windows, Livshin said.