Beach Cities Commercial Bank is getting closer to being a bank with the opening of its office in Irvine.
The bank, which has close ties to Orange County’s medical and legal professions, opened a 6,100-square-foot office at the first phase of Irvine Co.’s Innovation Office Park near the intersection of the Santa Ana (5) Freeway and Sand Canyon Avenue.
The office comes about five months after the company announced plans to open as a result of the recent trend of consolidation among community banks.
Chief Executive Hollister Kent Falk and President Jeffrey Redeker said last week it received regulatory approval subject to conditions of a de novo bank.
The Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI), California’s bank regulator, has informed the Business Journal that Beach Cities Commercial Bank isn’t officially opened for banking yet.
“The bank has received conditional approval from the DFPI and is required to do several things before they are granted the official Certificate of Authority (COA),” prior to the opening of banking business, a spokesman told The Business Journal.
Beach Cities plans to serve the banking needs of small to midsize businesses.
“Each member of our team has extensive experience in his or her area of specialty,” Falk and Redeker said in a joint statement. “Many of us have worked together at other local banks and are excited to be a team again.”
Small Biz Focus
Banks nowadays aren’t taking great care of customers, according to Beach Cities’ filing.
“I believe there’s a huge need for small- and medium-size business owners to be able to contact their bankers and have direct communications with the decision makers” such as those who approve the loans, Beach Cities’ Redeker told the Business Journal earlier this year. Business owners may have questions about fees or other banking matters.
“They don’t want to get on a 1-800 number,” Redeker said. “When people don’t get back to them, it drives them up the wall.”
The bank has extended its effort to raise $25 million from Aug. 31 to Oct. 31.
Medical, Legal Ties
Beach Cities has extensive ties to Orange County’s medical industry, as well as the finance industry.
One director is Dr. James Heinrich, founder and member of the board of directors of San Juan Capistrano-based Capital Bank, which was acquired in 2017 by Seacoast Commerce Bank. In 1999, Heinrich founded Pacific Coast Cosmetic & Laser Medical Center in Mission Viejo.
Another director expected to bring in doctors as investors and clients is Dr. Mark Burkhardt, an anesthesiologist who since 2017 has served as CEO of Mission Viejo Anesthesia Consultants. Since 1997, he’s worked at Mission Viejo facilities like Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center, Children’s Hospital of Orange County and Mission Ambulatory Surgicenter.
The bank also has ties to the OC legal industry. Director Angela Bienert, who has over 31 years of banking experience and most recently was interim chief credit officer at Santa Ana-based Infinity Bank, is married to Thomas Bienert Jr., who was the past president of the Orange County Bar Association where she was involved as well, according to the bank filing.
“The directors are all great businesspeople,” Redeker previously said. “All of them are business owners and understand the challenges.”
CEO Falk worked at Capital Bank and was chief credit officer at Mission Viejo-based Partners Bank of California.
Making Progress
Beach Cities’ office is at 100 Progress, Ste. 150, at the low-rise campus, where a second phase of construction started earlier this year.
The project will span 1.1 million square feet. The first phase totals 300,000 square feet across eight two-story buildings ranging from 20,000 to 64,000 square feet.
Beach Cities is expected to open a second office by mid-September in Encinitas.
(Correction: This article has been edited to reflect a clarification from the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (DFPI), California’s bank regulator, that Beach Cities Commercial Bank isn’t officially opened for banking yet. )