The Urban League of Metropolitan Saint Louis announced a partnership with Simmons Bank Wednesday, which will establish a full-service bank branch on the first floor of the league’s headquarters, formerly the Old Sears Building.
“What you’re doing today is giving us the dignity, the respect and the opportunity to have a full-service bank versus predatory lending.” — Michael McMillan
The branch will be the only bank located in the approximately 4.5 mile stretch along Kingshighway Boulevard from Vandeventer Avenue to Natural Bridge Avenue, according to Allan Ivie, president of community affairs for Missouri at Simmons Bank.
He said this branch, set to open in summer 2022, will alleviate a banking desert.
“So, when this branch opens, the neighborhood residents and small businesses will have a bank in their own backyard,” he said during a media event.
The bank branch will be about 2,500 square feet featuring a drive-thru, an all-hours ATM outside and in-office service on the first floor of the Urban League headquarters, at 1408 N. Kingshighway Blvd. In addition, it will provide customers a way to cash checks and a checking program called Affordable Advantage, which requires only $25 to open an account, according to Ivie.
The bank will also offer affordable home improvement loans, specialized home mortgage loans, and various products and services designed for small businesses.
“In short, we’re excited to help expand the Urban League’s vision of turning this building into a hub of commerce for North St. Louis,” Ivie said. “We will be investing a considerable amount of money to build out and to staff this branch and we believe that along with the Urban League’s considerable investment in this building and surrounding buildings, we can serve as a catalyst for future investment and development along Kingshighway north of Delmar.”
Michael McMillan, president and CEO of the Urban League, also spoke and noted the branch would be in a building considered an iconic structure in the Black community.
“It is the only single-standing department store left in the whole city,” he said. “And this is the place where everyone in the Black community came to shop and Martin Luther King [Drive], going back to when it was Easton [Avenue], was the economic nub of North City and … having various businesses here that were Black- and minority-owned so that we could come and actually do economics in our community. And so, what you’re doing today is giving us the dignity, the respect and the opportunity to have a full-service bank versus predatory lending.”
The Urban League purchased the Old Sears Building in 2020 with financing from Simmons Bank. The bank approached McMillian shortly after with the proposition of opening up a branch within the building.
The new branch will be designed and built by minority-owned businesses Grice Group Architects and KWAME Building Group.
Grice Group Architects designed the Centene Ferguson Training Facility in collaboration with the Urban League and Centene Corporation. KWAME Building Group constructed the 13,500 square-foot Community Empowerment Center of Ferguson in partnership with the Urban League in 2017.
The Urban League of Metropolitan Saint Louis can trace its roots back to 1910, the same year as the founding of the National Urban League.
Its mission is to empower African Americans and others throughout the region in securing economic self reliance, social equality and civil rights.
