The old post office on Walker Road is slated to be torn down this month to make way for a new Bank of America building. Bank of America officials expect to immediately begin construction on the new building and have the new banking center up and running early next year.
According to John Ulfelder, a member of the Great Falls Citizens Association Planning and Zoning Committee, Bank of America has been receptive to the input from the residents when designing the new facility. “We pointed to the building next to it and said that was exactly what we didn’t want,” said Ulfelder, referring to the multi-story brick building next to the empty post office. “We pointed to the library as something we’d like to see.”
The existing building has been vacant since the post office relocated to a much larger building a few blocks away on Georgetown Pike. The building had been for lease since then.
The new Bank of America building will be built from scratch. It will be larger in appearance than the existing structure because it is taking up a larger footprint and because the new bank will have a raised seam roof. The developers of the property will be saving some of the old trees on the land but will have to clear some to reconfigure the parking lot.
“There will be more parking spaces than there are now. The surface parking will change, and the stacking lanes will be behind. The drive-through is on the left side from Walker Road,” said Ulfelder.
There will be 26 parking spaces at the new building, which is more than they are required to have. When the post office used the building, there were severe parking shortages.
Bank of America will also be putting in new landscaping behind the bank, on the circular road that leads to the shops in the Great Falls Village Center.
THE BANK IS a by-right development except for the drive-through window being proposed by Bank of America. “They have to go through a special-exemption process for that,” said Ulfelder.
According to Hillary Zahm, an attorney for Bank of America on this issue, “We’re still pursuing site plan approval. The Great Falls Citizens Association has supported the application for the drive-through.” Zahm said that topography and grading issues, basic engineering for a new building, are what are currently being worked on to determine the ultimate look of the building.
The idea of a drive-through window at the bank isn’t disturbing, but several members of the Village Center Condominium Association (VCCA), which makes decisions regarding the property and the land in the Great Falls Village Center, are concerned about how the drive-through could be laid out.
The VCCA had allowed the post office to use a cut-through in the back of the building that led to the ring road. That use was allowed because the trucks carrying mail to and from Great Falls experienced difficulty turning and maneuvering in the tight confines of the property.
THE STRETCH THAT had been used by the trucks is private property belonging to the VCCA. A meeting of the organization's members has been called this week to discuss how they should approach the matter. As one member put it, they want to convey that no precedent has been established by the occupant. The cost of maintaining the asphalt, which is paid for by VCCA, is another factor in some members not wanting a drive-through that encroaches on their property. Finally, if the shopping center were ever reconfigured, that land would no longer belong to the VCCA because they had granted an easement for Bank of America.
The group is more than willing to grant a pedestrian easement for customers to walk to and from Bank of America. VCCA has put this in writing and expressed this willingness to county officials.
While issues are being worked out, the project is scheduled to go forward, according to Bank of America spokesperson Terri Bolling. “We’ll be demolishing the building in July and begin construction in July. We hope to have the banking center open by the end of the year,” said Bolling.
“It’s going to look different than it does now. Not everyone here is going to like that,” said Ulfelder.