A new Chase Bank will be developed in the Mill Pond Village shopping center on Egg Harbor Road (at Greentree) in Washington Township. Most locals know it as the home to Bottino’s ShopRite.
The 3,319sf Chase Bank will be developed on an already allocated pad site in front of the ShopRite liquors.
About 30 years ago a bank was previously approved for the space and in fact even today you can see some of the concrete curbing work in place for those much earlier plans, but again after 3 decades nothing had been developed there.
Representatives from the shopping center and Chase presented at the Washington Township Zoning Board last night.
With the upcoming Chase Bank situated on the side of the main parking lot (close to Greentree), the front entrance for the all-new construction bank will face towards the side of the main parking lot.
The last row of cars in the existing main parking area will become the main Chase Bank parking spots, and four additional parking spots will be added to the side of the new building construction.
Typically in a new retail building construction project there is not enough parking, but in the case of the Mill Pond shopping center as a whole, there is already significantly more parking spaces in place than what Township code calls for.
The new Chase Bank will feature a drive-up ATM, but it appears they will not have a traditional bank drive-thru window where you sit in your car and talk to tellers.
The drive-up ATM path will wrap around the back of the building, with an entrance from the main shopping center parking lot, and would exit near the ShopRite liquors, into the driveway access in line with the liquor store side parking area.
At the end of the Zoning Board hearing the team was asked about the timing of the development, to which the sponsors stated they expect construction to start this year. The project will be “bidded out”.
Based on experiences with other Chase locations in South Jersey, they don’t seem to mess around with their plans and I would expect them to hold up to their plans to start this year. Since the project is being developed with the shopping center and does not change any of the driveway access points to the road system, this likely will not need additional approvals from the County or State.
Over recent years Washington Twp has seen branch closings with TD Bank and Wells Fargo, as well as a location close when Fulton acquired Republic Bank… so likely Chase is looking to fill a void left by those closings.
Chase Bank – Retail Expansion
While other banks are clearly reducing their retail branch footprint, Chase is making a huge investment with new locations and upgrades.
Chase already has the largest branch network in the United States, and is the only bank that has branches in all lower 48 states. Last year they announced plans to add 500 new branches over the upcoming three years, and that is after adding 650 locations in the prior five years.
Prior commentary from Chase seems to present an old-school banking mentality that they want to be a part of the community, have locals come in and cash checks and talk about financial decisions.
Investopedia reported last year that three quarters of Chase Bank customers visit the branches regularly, which likely is a key catalyst for their continued location expansion.
In South Jersey they have been adding new branches including Glassboro, Gloucester Township, Voorhees and others.
Links and Location
Chase Bank – Under Development
Mill Pond Village
372-386 Egg Harbor Road
Washington Twp, NJ