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PNC Bank Exits Wicker Strip Mall, Heads to 11-Story Tower at Ashland Ave.

By Alisa Hauser | August 12, 2014 9:13am
 The Wicker Park branch of PNC Bank is moving to 1156 N. Ashland Ave. in September.
PNC Bank Branch Moves from Wicker Park to West Town
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WICKER PARK —  The largest tenant in a Wicker Park shopping mall just south of the CTA Blue Line Damen "L" station, a PNC bank branch is moving out in September and headed to new digs at the base of an 11-story apartment tower in West Town.

According to a sign in the window, the PNC bank at 1520 N. Damen Ave. will close on Sept. 5 and relocate to 1156 N. Ashland Ave. at the southwest corner of Ashland and Division avenues in West Town.

PNC's new West Town branch, scheduled to open Sept. 6 on the ground-floor of a 99-unit apartment tower at 1611 W. Division St. will join Intelligentsia coffee, which opened in July.

Kristen Martin, a leasing manager for the shopping mall at 1500-20 N. Damen Ave. did not return calls about the future of the storefront, which is adjacent to craft cocktail lounge The Violet Hour and across the street from Big Star.

According to a marketing flier for the mall, the bank occupies about 4,174 square-feet and is the largest of the mall's tenants, which include a 7-Eleven, Pinky Nail, Lou Malnati's Pizza and Massage Envy Spa, set to open in September. 

On Monday, Miro Shchurevich, a branch manager at the Wicker Park PNC Bank, said that himself and six other employees will be relocating to the new branch, which is part of the bank's "universal concept" where there will be no teller lines. 

The new branch will have "iPads and a lot of TVs" and be similar to a PNC branch in Old Town, Shchurevich said.

Saul Boscan, a Chicago area spokesman for PNC Bank, said on Monday that PNC has over 170 branches in the Chicago area and suburbs.

Boscan declined to comment on what prompted the bank branch's departure from Wicker Park.

There is another PNC Bank four blocks north at 1955 N. Damen Ave. in Bucktown. 

Joyce Payton, manager of Lou Malnati's Pizza takeout, said she is "sad" to see the bank leave and described the neighboring retail storefront that could soon be vacant as "huge."

"Their employees are always so friendly and I see them in the area doing business at the other shops. It's a very community-minded bank,"  Payton said.

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