Alpine Financial institution, an impartial, employee-owned financial institution headquartered in Glenwood Springs, is increasing to Colorado Springs with a high-profile entrance into the market.

Alpine’s first department is focused to open by the tip of October at 90 S. Cascade Ave. within the downtown Wells Fargo Tower. It can occupy greater than 7,000 sq. toes on the constructing’s first ground, the place it is going to provide full-service client and enterprise banking, mentioned Matthew Hanson, Alpine’s Colorado Springs market president.

Based in 1973 and with greater than $6.1 billion in property, Alpine sought to determine development markets lately, Hanson mentioned. It expanded to Denver in 2013 and Boulder in 2019; the Springs and Fort Collins, the place a department is predicted to open in November, additionally had been on Alpine’s record, he mentioned.

Colorado Springs’ development, vibrancy and desirability as a spot to reside — a recognition it is obtained from U.S. Information & World Report — had been amongst elements that made it engaging, mentioned Hanson, a Springs native and 2000 graduate of Lewis-Palmer Excessive Faculty in Monument.

Town’s high quality of life, household pleasant and community-oriented nature and impartial streak additionally had been interesting, he mentioned.

“We’re not Denver, we’re not Boulder or Fort Collins — form of an offshoot of that northern Entrance Vary improvement,” Hanson mentioned. “We’re Colorado Springs. We’re a thriving and actually impartial neighborhood down right here that sits proper in the midst of Colorado.”

Alpine will lease house beforehand occupied by Wells Fargo within the constructing that bears its identify; Wells Fargo downsized its downtown banking operation after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic two years in the past.

Alpine appeared to purchase house in downtown, although alternatives had been few and much between, Hanson mentioned. The Wells Fargo Tower’s location at Cascade and Colorado avenues is within the coronary heart of the central enterprise district and near all the pieces, from Colorado School to the north to redevelopment initiatives on downtown’s southwest facet, he mentioned.

Alpine would possibly take into account extra branches in Colorado Springs, however first desires to see how its downtown location performs, Hanson mentioned.    

Alpine made its arrival recognized Thursday and Friday when 17-story cranes and crews from Signal Store Illuminated of Colorado Springs hung new indicators on the prime of the Wells Fargo Tower’s north and east sides. The constructing is town’s tallest — 15 tales of workplaces and a Sixteenth-floor penthouse that homes constructing gear.

Hanson mentioned Alpine’s lease allowed it to place its indicators on the constructing’s north and east sides, although the financial institution hasn’t bought naming rights and the constructing will proceed to hold the Wells Fargo Tower identify.  

Curious passers-by watched Friday morning because the constructing’s north facet “Wells Fargo” signal was eliminated and lowered slowly to the bottom by crane.

A number of minutes later, an Alpine Financial institution signal — composed of 4, 100-pound sections that had been carried to the highest of the constructing by freight elevator and assembled on the roof — was lifted by crane, affixed to the facet of the constructing and bolted into place. An identical signal substitute passed off Thursday on the constructing’s east facet.

The meticulous operation was a six-person job carried out by two Signal Store crew members working cranes, two on the roof and two extra in a basket that dangled from one of many cranes alongside the facet of the constructing. 

“The fellows who’re really within the hanging basket proper now normally volunteer as a result of they get to say they did one thing like this,” mentioned Wayne Gwin, Signal Store’s director of fabrication. “Being that that is the tallest constructing in our metropolis, it is form of an enormous deal for us to do that.”

The brand new Alpine Financial institution indicators, 9 toes by 11 toes, will probably be illuminated at night time.