Gateway Bank of Central Florida
(In Organization)
The New Old Fashioned Bank
Ocala Style Magazine, September 2006 (www.ocalastyle.com)
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Article published Sep 8, 2006
BANK ON IT
New deposit
Downtown Baptist Church gives way to locally controlled Gateway Bank
BY FRED HIERS
THE STAR-BANNER
OCALA The sound of gospel hymns from Downtown Baptist Church on Fort King Street will be no more. It will soon give
way to the quiet hum of financial computers.
Where once fingers stroked piano and organ keys, they will now tap computer keyboards and adding machines.
Church bulletins will be replaced by banking receipts.
The 1635 S.E. Fort King St. church, which was also once a nursing home and former motel, will be torn down to
make room for a new 20,000 square-foot bank.
Parishioners last month sold the church, which once housed about 100 worshipers every Sunday morning, for $1.7
million. Downtown Baptist Church moved to the Fort King Street site in 1992, splintering from First Baptist
Church of Ocala.
Gateway Bank of Central Florida will take over the 3.7-acre site and open its doors for business in about 18
months.
The people behind the banking project are considered local heavy hitters in the area's financial industry.
Gateway's chief executive officer is Tom Ingram. Ingram has 22 years
of banking experience and was president and CEO of SouthTrust Bank
for five years and president and CEO of Florida Bank for another five
years.
Gateway's president is Rusty Branson, who was the president of Compass Bank in Marion County for seven years.
The bank's board is made up of Sandy McBride, Richard Andrews,
Fred Roberts, Albert Peek, Kirk Boone, Ken MacKay and Thad Boyd,
all successful developers, real estate investors and bankers.
"We're trying to create something we own locally and control locally,"
Ingram said. "And Marion County is a great area to do business in."
"Customers want to deal with people who have the ability to make decisions. They don't want someone out of state making a decision on Downtown Baptist Church, seen on Southeast
their financial future. In our bank you're dealing with the decision
Fort King Street on Tuesday, has been sold. It is
set to be torn down and replaced by a 20,000maker," Ingram said.
Ingram also wants his startup capital from the Ocala area.
square-foot bank.
DOUG ENGLE/STAR BANNER
"We're trying to raise money first and foremost from our local market. We're a community bank and it's important that our citizens are owners of the bank," he said. "There has been an interest from numerous out-ofmarket investors, but we're giving our local community the first opportunity to buy into Gateway Bank of
Central Florida."
The bank will sell $15 million in stock Sept. 15-Oct. 31.
Ingram said Gateway will focus on lending money to small and medium-size companies and professionals.
Until the new three-story building is completed, Gateway has set up shop at 2210 S.E. 17th St.
There are more than 90 banking facilities in the county, Ingram said, but Gateway will stand out.
His bank will have an "unbanklike atmosphere" and more of a "living room feel," Ingram said, adding that
customers will be welcomed with a warm greeting as they enter the building.
"It's a great compliment to the city and ultimately it's good for business, good for the community," he said.
Selling the Downtown Baptist Church was also good for its congregation, said church chairman of deacons
Charles White.
"The old building was in bad shape," he said. "We were more or less forced out."
Church officials plan to build a new facility on a 7.5-acre site near the corner of Northeast 25th Avenue and
Northeast 28th Street, where the church already owns land. They church hopes to build a main worship service
area, activity center and Sunday school classrooms.
"We'll be in a new location and attract new members," White said. "I'm excited about building the new
(church)."
Fred Hiers may be reached at [email protected] or at (352) 867-4157.