After five years on Parker Farm Drive in Mayfaire, the combined offices of TowneBank Mortgage and Towne Insurance now have a permanent home. Monday, the companies announced that they have moved into their new regional headquarters at 1022 Ashes Drive, in Renaissance Park, off Military Cutoff Road.
 
TowneBank Mortgage and Towne Insurance are the anchor tenants of the new building and occupy all of the 16,000-square-foot ground floor class A office space. Thomas Construction Group, which built the structure, will be the building's only other tenant and will take up the entire second floor.

"This facility provides the necessary resources for the team to prosper and furnish the outstanding service our clients expect," Mike Burkinshaw, Towne Insurance's senior vice president, said in the news release.

A grand opening ceremony is scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday.

The mortgage and insurance companies together employ about 45 people, according to Rick Goldbach, TowneBank Mortgage's mortgage market director of the Carolinas. As the companies' regional headquarters, the office will handle mortgage loan and insurance processing for other TowneBank Mortgage and Towne Insurance locations in the eastern portion of the state, he said Monday.
 
"We are one of only two lenders in Wilmington that has an in-house operations team. Our processing, underwriting and closing are done right here," Goldbach continued. "We have a team that understands the real estate agents, builders, real estate values and all the communities here, new and existing."
 
The companies decided to locate their regional headquarters in Wilmington because of the amount of talent in the area, Goldbach said. "There were people who loved Wilmington and didn't want to leave. In other markets, it's more of a challenge to find operations people."

Burkinshaw believes the new building will be a recruiting tool. "The additional space will contribute not only to organic growth; it will attract successful insurance professionals interested in having a career with Towne,” he said in his statement.

TowneBank Mortgage, a division of Portsmouth, Virginia-based TowneBank, provides a full range of mortgage products. Towne Insurance, a wholly owned subsidiary of TowneBank, offers a variety of insurance products, including vehicle insurance, life and health insurance, home insurance and umbrella protection.