By 2014, the Wall Street Journal reports, experts believe that 63 million households will pay their bills online. That means fewer customers are visiting fewer branch banks.

Will these buildings become white elephants on the market? Can they be readily adapted for other uses?

Brian Eckel, co-founder of Cape Fear Commercial Real Estate, said he recently closed a sale involving a branch bank building.

It seems that while bank takeovers have caused some closures, Eckel said it isn’t a new phenomenon.

Eckel said he thinks we will continue to see banks consolidate branches that may be underperforming. As consumer’s financial habits continue to evolve to e-commerce, he believes banks will continue to strategically close branches to increase profitability.

“We saw this global trend begin as online and mobile banking started to grow and branch banking became less of a cornerstone of the traditional banking model,” Eckel said.

He cited the Wachovia and First Union merger in 2001 that led to more than 200 branch bank dispositions.

“There is no doubt we live in a different world than eight years ago, but there are still financial service companies that are expanding and will ultimately consume some of these available opportunities. 

And, yes, it can be problematic to try and retrofit these buildings for a non-financial user, and the cost to retrofit can be expensive, Eckel said.

But on the positive side, he added, these buildings are typically located on very good sites which are attractive to retailers or sought after for redevelopment.

Eckel said his firm represented the sellers of property the existing Wachovia branch building on College Road in front of Best Buy is located. The transaction closed in July, but Wachovia is under a ground lease and will remain open, Eckel said.

“They have been a fine tenant and have no plans to close that branch that we are aware of,” he said.

SelfHelp Credit Union was the buyer in that transaction. Eckel declined to comment on the
purchase price.