St. Mary's Bank held a ground breaking ceremony today to officially begin construction of their new corporate headquarters at 200 McGregor Street - just in front of the current headquarters on the corner of McGregor and Amory Streets. The new building will be Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified and is scheduled for completion in fall 2013. The current headquarters will remain open for business during construction and will be taken down once the new building is complete to make way for the new drive-up to be constructed.
The three-story, 29,000 square foot facility was designed by Lavallee Brensinger Architects and will be built by Harvey Construction. It will house a state-of-the art branch office, mortgage and commercial lending divisions, human resources and executive administration offices along with a four-lane drive-up banking structure and additional drive-up ATM.
Joining the St. Mary's Bank Board of Directors and President/ CEO for the ceremony were Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas, Barry Brensinger from Lavallee Brensinger Architects, Rob Prunier from Harvey Construction.
"The planning for this new office has been in the works for many years and I think our members, employees and neighbors will be very pleased with the new building. It was designed to incorporate technology to meet the growing needs of our membership and provide a healthy and productive working environment for employees," said Ronald H. Covey, Jr., St. Mary's Bank President and CEO. "As far as location, there was never any question that we would remain here. It has been our home since 1930. Moreover, it is in sight of our original office, which was established nearly 104 years ago."
As part of the ceremony, Boy Scouts from Troop 135 retired the US flag, which has proudly flown on the McGregor Street side of the building for decades. The flagpole will be removed for construction, and a new flagpole will be erected when the project is complete.
St. Mary's Bank is pursuing LEED Silver Certification, meaning much effort will be spent ensuring the building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions are as "green" as possible.
Planned features of the project include:
* Energy-efficient insulation of exterior walls and roof
* Eco-friendly interior carpet made from recycled materials that will be
again recycled at the end of its wear life
* High-efficiency HVAC system consisting of a condensing unit and fan coil
system; a heat recovery unit included in the design recaptures interior
heat from exhausted building air
* Solar photovoltaic array installed over the teller drive-up canopy to
supplement electricity in the building
* LED light fixtures on exterior and interior of building
* Water-conserving plumbing fixtures
Headquartered in Manchester, New Hampshire, St. Mary's Bank hasbranches in Manchester, Hudson, Londonderry, Milford and Nashua. Call 1-888-786-2791 or visit www.stmarysbank.comfor more information.
September 25th at the Hudson Community Center from noon to 7pm - volunteers, donations and donators are needed. 
