Pacific Mercantile Bank is moving from its Newport Beach headquarters to offices in Costa Mesa’s Metro Pointe office and retail center.
“We are totally out of space. We are in three different offices,” said Ray Dellerba, the bank’s president and chief executive.
The bank now employs about 60 people, almost double its total a year ago. Dellerba said he expects growth to continue.
In Costa Mesa, the bank will be able to house all of its operations on one floor, Dellerba said. He said he’s moving out of Newport Beach because he could not find a suitable available space.
“There are too many full floors (in Newport Beach). Now we can consolidate all our central operations. We would rather move where we could consolidate everybody,” Dellerba said. “We got a good deal on the rent and tenant improvements. And they gave us sign rights. That is important.”
The bank has its corporate operations, mortgage operations and a branch at the Newport Beach location. The Newport Beach branch will remain, and a new one will open at the Metro Pointe location.
Besides adding a new branch in Orange County, Dellerba also will be taking Pacific Mercantile to Los Angeles with an office set to open in Beverly Hills later this year.
“We had planned to go to Los Angeles. It was part of our original planning. We have been interviewing and looking for space for six months,” Dellerba said.
The bank has hired Scott Peterson to run the Beverly Hills office. Peterson previously worked for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., ran a few other banks and also operated a private company, Dellerba said.
Dellerba has more plans for the bank.
“We never intended it to be a small bank,” Dellerba said.
After establishing the Beverly Hills office, he plans to acquire small banks or start other new branches in the Los Angeles market.
“We always have an open mind when it comes to an acquisition,” Dellerba said.
He wants to take the bank to San Diego as well. As for Orange County, Dellerba said that with three branches,the bank also has a San Clemente office,it has a good grip on the local market and doesn’t plan on any acquisitions or new branches here.
Since starting operations in 1999, the bank has done well gathering deposits and assets. As of the end of September,the latest figures available from the FDIC,the bank had $151 million in assets and $121 million in deposits.
Dellerba said he can thank the bank’s Internet operations for some of that growth, saying three-fourths of its customer base use the bank’s Web-based services to some extent.
“We have branches and we welcome them in. We like to deal with personalities, but we also offer them other services,” Dellerba said. n
