Piper Pierce, a banking industry veteran with more than 20 years of experience, will serve as president of Collegiate Peaks Bank’s new location in the Denver Tech Center, located at 5450 Greenwood Plaza Blvd. Pierce recently shared with Mile High CRE, her optimistic outlook on the south metro real estate market.
Why did Collegiate Peaks Bank decide to expand into the Denver Tech Center?
We expanded into DTC not only to be able to support the existing business community and growth in the area but also to provide convenience for our workforce that lives in the South metro areas. We believe in the philosophy of following development and as you drive down I-25 you can see that is quite significant in the DTC area.
How has the commercial real estate market contributed to the bank’s growth?
Our bank has been on the front end of high growth areas for communities and has had the capability to successfully support and do business with customers in these areas. At our local level we have over 100+ years of combined experience in commercial real estate, we can be nimble with our decision making and our value add is being able to roll up our sleeves and fully understand every deal that comes across our desks.
Are there specific types of companies or projects that the bank is looking forward to working with?
We are looking to grow our portfolio by working with a broad base of customers in the DTC area. Our bankers have experience in assisting small businesses, retail businesses, real estate developers & investors, along with working in the public finance arena. We aren’t and never will be “siloed” bankers in the industry.
How does being a division of one of the nations best publicly traded banks, Glacier Bancorp., help you to better work with commercial real estate companies in these challenging times?
Not only does this help us to better work with commercial real estate companies, it also assists us to better serve all companies that we work with now and in the future. We are able to provide a vast menu of lending programs and have access to retail and treasury management products and services. This is strengthened by having Glacier along with 16 other divisions behind us.
How will the bank involve itself in the local community?
Currently we support over 50 organizations in the communities where we live and work and we anticipate deepening these relationships with our existing Partners and expanding in the future. With the COVID-19 pandemic we’re evaluating current needs for non-profits and will be providing assistance in coming days/weeks/months ahead.
Do you anticipate hiring employees in the weeks to come?
To ensure that all of our employees were ready to hit-the-ground-running upon opening, we started ramping up our staffing six months ago. We have added four employees and have a total of 18 at our DTC Branch. Services range from Retail banking services, Consumer lending, Commercial banking, Mortgage lending and Treasury Management services.
How is the bank responding to Covid-19?
We are responding by being a strong resource for our customers and by providing flexibility and understanding for our customers that have been affected. We are a strong bank with resources and have the ability to stand behind our customers in good times and in challenging times. We have been making donations to local charities and non-profit groups via our new donation program we have established for our new checking account customers.
