The only bank headquartered in the Augusta-Aiken metro area has finished restorations on a Broad Street building that will be its nineteenth branch across Georgia and South Carolina.
Aiken-based Security Federal Bank is having a soft opening this week for the new location that was the former home of the Augusta Genealogical Society. It will hold its grand opening on Tuesday, April 18.
The bank’s president, Phil Wahl, a native Augustan with a 37-year banking career in the area, said when he was promoted to president in 2019, the board was looking for new locations in Augusta. As a community development financial institution, 60% of its financing must go to underserved populations so finding locations within the right census tracts is important, he said.
Wahl had always admired the building at 1109 Broad St. and thought it could help with the revitalization of downtown Augusta, he said.
The final decision was made after the chairman of the board, Tim Simmons, and Wahl climbed to the top of the building, Wahl said.
“He looked at me and he said, ‘Phil, you know, I wouldn’t do business with a bank if it didn’t have a location on Broad Street,'” he said.
The building was originally constructed in 1924 as a branch for Georgia Railroad Bank and Trust. In 1947, it was outfitted with air conditioning and received a facelift, meaning many of its neo-classical interior features were covered, including a 25-foot cathedral ceiling, pilasters and crown molding.
The bank hired a team of local historians, architects and builders to restore the building, which will be a full-service bank branch with a lobby, drive-thru and ATM. The architect was Cameron Scott with Cheatham Fletcher Scott and the builder was Allen-Batchelor Construction.
The branch in Augusta’s central business district will serve downtown Augusta and the Cyber District. There will be four employees plus Wahl at the location.
The 100-year-old community bank, which has about 260 employees across its footprint, was founded in Aiken in 1922 and has grown to 19 full-service branches across the Augusta-Aiken and Columbia, S.C. areas.
The bank opened a branch office on Martintown Road in North Augusta in 1973 and a Walton Way branch in 2019 to serve the medical and university community.
Security Federal ended 2022 with $1.4 billion in assets, an increase of more than 6% from the previous year, according to its annual report. It had about $1.1 billion in total deposits.
The bank’s annual shareholder meeting will be held on May 11.
