The ribbon was cut Feb. 11 on the newest Chase Bank branch location in Valley Stream, marking the official opening of the bank’s third branch in the community.
The branch opened its doors at 330 W. Sunrise Highway last month as part of a two-into-one consolidation, combining the Green Acres Mall and South Valley Stream branches. Being located inside the mall meant the branch had to follow mall hours for clients and navigate several unique challenges. With the move to a standalone building, customers who viewed the mall branch as their branch no longer have to work around mall hours. The new location also includes a drive-up ATM, offering additional convenience.
Real estate teams have been working on the project for several years. Construction began last year and experienced a few delays along the way before the new space was completed and opened to the public.
“This was built and is built on hard work, perseverance, grit, community,” Andrew Simone, Long Island regional director, consumer banking, said. “This grand opening isn’t just about a grand opening, it’s about celebrating this journey that we have together, not only with our employees, but with all of our clients, customers and this community. Chase has been on Long Island for a little over 100 years. I hope this is another testament that we’re going to be here for another 100 years, plus.”
Community partners were also in attendance. Rose Ward, vice president of the Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce, spoke about the importance of the new branch for local businesses.
“I think it’s very important, because of the area, they’ll be able to service more clients, they’ll be able to serve more small businesses,” Ward said. “It’ll give them a sense of a place to come, as opposed to the location they were in before. I think that if they have an opportunity to come in, to sit down and talk to the managers of the team here, they will feel more comfortable in talking about finances and some of the other things that they offer here at the branch.”
Ward also explained the Chamber’s presence at the event.
“We’re here because we partner with Chase on quite a few things, and that networking is very important,” Ward said. “It’s very important for us to partner with Chase because they offer things that our small businesses need, whether it’s finance, access to capital or leadership. They have a lot of different programs that they offer small businesses.”
The ceremony formally introduced the consolidated branch to the community, concluding a multi-year effort to establish the new standalone location in the village.
