Bank plans to open first branch in downtown Syracuse by December; three other branches will open next year
By Stefan Yablonski
Canandaigua National Bank & Trust is continuing to grow in Central New York.
The bank plans to open four Onondaga County branches.
• 333 W. Washington St., Syracuse
• 7507 Oswego Road, Clay
• 6805 E. Genesee St. in DeWitt in the Wegmans shopping plaza
• 8065 Brewerton Road in Cicero
The bank has been in operation for nearly 140 years.
“The downtown Syracuse branch will be the first to open; hopefully it will be ready by the end of this year,” said Frank Hamlin, the bank’s president and CEO.
Construction of the other three branches will take place over the next year, Hamlin added.
“We have been considering the Syracuse area expansion for a while,” he said. “Previously, we expanded in Canandaigua and Rochester.”
Before that they were predominantly in Ontario County.
“We are following an old script. Back in 1995, around there, we grew to the extent where we needed to expand out. So we expanded into the Rochester market and when we did that we did multiple branches within a short amount of time,” he explained. “It demonstrates commitment to the community — high quality individuals won’t work with you if you don’t demonstrate commitment.
“That’s how we’ve structured this. Thirty years later we have run into a similar situation, where we have accumulated capital. And so over the last five or six years we’ve been trying to contemplate what comes next and where. Part of it has to do with going where people are asking you to come. As well as looking at the competitive landscape. We saw a lot of potential synergy between the Rochester and Syracuse markets in particular; especially the schools and some of the other things that are going on between the different communities from a business standpoint, economic standpoint. The Syracuse market, the Onondaga market seemed like a good opportunity. That’s how we’ve ended up where we are right now.”
The growth of the technology sector in the Syracuse region and the upcoming Micron site also influenced the expansion, Hamlin said.
The bank has 25 branches, one of which is in Sarasota, Florida — a trust company.
The tax laws, with respect to trusts in Florida, are far better than those here in New York state, he said.
“We did that to benefit our customers here in Upstate New York. Over time we have gained a customer base down there as well,” he added.
The bank’s basic model is commercial and consumer.
“They complement each other. We are a community bank and community banks are about individuals and small business. Individuals create small business — it’s very circular,” Hamlin explained.
The history of Canandaigua National Bank has been very much kind of a 50-50 mix of a lending portfolio and customer portfolio standpoint, he added.
“It is a longstanding viable model,” he said. “So why change things that aren’t broken, right?
“It’s proven to be a very successful model for us. We are not about rapid growth. I’ve had people say ‘you are looking to blast into Syracuse.’ Absolutely not. This is about showing commitment to the region. People have been watching banks come and go — especially the big guys. That’s not what a community bank does. We are here for the long haul. we have always been here; we believe very much in our workforce.
“The opportunities are evolving in the Upstate New York, the Finger Lakes region. We don’t have hurricanes, we have more natural fresh water than anywhere in the United States or the world for that matter.”
There has been a lot of focus here on a technology standpoint and investments around national security concerns, he added.
“We have always been very positive on the Finger Lakes region. But it seems to be there is even more opportunity starting to happen here. A lot of investment is starting to happen up here,” he said. “It appears to me that times are changing in terms of job opportunities — educational opportunity — long-term positive growth for our region.
“This is where we are, we aren’t going anywhere else anyway. We are very positive about what is going on in our region here. It’s really quite an exciting time.”
Bank officials expect at least three branches will be fully up and running by the end of 2026 if not before.
“We have already gotten some very good reception on the commercial side especially. We have been very positively received. There are a lot of other great financial institutions that are in that area. We are not looking to blow the barn doors off the area. We want to be intelligent in how we manage our capital,” he said. “But also, frankly, the competitive landscape in the Syracuse region versus the Buffalo region is more affective.
“Competition can be competitive, but it can also be synergistic. I think there are some opportunities on that front in the Syracuse region. It’s a great area. We are very excited about the environment and frankly the reception we’ve received so far. We’ll be intermixed with our current staff; but we are in the process of going ahead and filling out talent. It will be your typical complement for the given operation.”
