Columbia Bank opens innovative branch in downtown Boise

Columbia Bank has opened its “NeighborHub” in Boise, the second in its initiative to create a neighborhood gathering space as well as offering banking services to communities.

The company, based in Tacoma, Washington, had hinted at the development this spring when it ran a job ad looking for a manager for the facility.

“We opened it up a week ago — a soft opening, to make sure everything works,” said Chris Merrywell, executive vice president and chief operating officer of the company.

The intention of the 1,800-square-foot nontraditional banking concept is to create a more compact and more efficient layout where customers meet with individual bank staff with tablets who are capable of performing many transactions, Merrywell said. “It’s more about the interaction and conversation and, ultimately, the transaction,” he said. “It’s a bank, but you can also browse and relax and use Wi-Fi in a welcoming environment.”

But it’s after “banker’s hours” when the NeighborHub really comes into its own, Merrywell said.

“After hours, it becomes a gathering space where we can loan it out to community groups for a meeting space and host events, because it has a fully functioning kitchen and entertainment space,” Merrywell said.

Columbia chose Boise for its second NeighborHub location partly because it didn’t yet have branches in Boise itself, Merrywell said. “We have a commercial team, a health care team, and other folks out of a Boise hub” in commercial office space, he said. “They’ve done such a wonderful job, it felt like a branch was the next step for them.”

Then a space opened up at 190 N. 8^th St., a block away from the office. “It’s a high-growth area, supporting successful bankers,” Merrywell said. “We’re committed to this market and have been looking for this opportunity for quite some time. There’s a talented employee base in the Boise/Ada County market, with many people moving there.”

In addition, Columbia has committed $100,000 to the Boise NeighborHub project. The funds were collected as part of its fees from the Department of the Treasury and Small Business Administration for providing Paycheck Protection Program funds appropriated by the federal government to help small businesses recover from the economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Columbia Bank opened its first NeighborHub in Ballard, Washington, a suburb of Seattle, a year ago. “At night, an array of curated events reflect what’s really going on in the neighborhood,” according to a description of the Ballard NeighborHub on the Columbia Bank website. “The calendar features everything from seminars on managing cash flow and homeownership to events focused on the arts and culture that matter most to that neighborhood. The NeighborHub layout encourages people to engage with bankers and financial solutions from the moment they walk in. Flexible spaces in the NeighborHub allow for small business workshops, neighborhood gatherings and small nonprofit seminars. Business owners can conveniently conduct a meeting, get work done and have easy access to conveniences such as coffee selections and other refreshments.”

Such amenities are increasingly common in urban banks, including Idaho banks, said Trent Wright, president and CEO of the Idaho Bankers Association, earlier this year.

Columbia Bank entered the Idaho market in 2014 with the purchase of Intermountain Community Bancorp, which had run banks under the names Panhandle State Bank in northern Idaho, Magic Valley Bank in south-central Idaho and Intermountain Bank in southwest Idaho. At the time, Intermountain was the third-largest bank headquartered in Idaho. Columbia leaders said at the time that the merger was in part to gain entrance to Boise and Idaho banking markets, touting the state’s economic growth and low unemployment.

The bank has 14 Idaho branches, including seven in North Idaho, two in the Twin Falls area, one in Ontario, Oregon, and the remainder in the Treasure Valley. The publicly traded and state-chartered bank has a total of more than 150 branches and ATMs in Idaho, Oregon and Washington.