Update: Comerica Bank on Jackson Drive Names Branch Manager

Updated at noon Jan. 17, 2012

Delayed by natural and manmade problems, Comerica Bank expects to open its 15th branch in the county by the first week of February at Jackson and Parkway drives—about two months behind schedule.

The branch will employ five people—two of whom are La Mesans, bank spokeswoman Nancy Tovar Huxen said Tuesday.

“Therese Warah is the new La Mesa-Grossmont Banking Center manager,” Tovar Huxen said. “Previously, Warah managed Comerica’s Mira Mesa and Pacific Beach
banking centers.”

Warah, educated at Chicago-based La Salle Extension University, has more than 15 years’ experience in banking, according to her LinkedIn profile.

The 3,000-square-foot banking center will have a drive-through teller lane, a drive-up ATM, safe deposit boxes for rent and “the full array of walk-in services,” Tovar Huxen said.

Original story:

Ray Cole of contractor Suffolk Roel, a superintendent at the work site, said last week that “our end is pretty much on schedule” for completion this month, including the parking lot.

But Cole said permit delays for the development just south of Rigoberto’s Taco Shop remain an issue and the project might not be done until early February.

This week, Deputy Fire Marshal Adam Beardsley said several inspections involving the fire sprinkler system were still needed.

When he did his first inspection Nov. 9, he said, “they hadn’t submitted any plans to the city to do” some underground pipeline work, including a backflow preventer—which keeps fire-sprinkler water from returning to the municipal water system.

Plans were finally submitted Jan. 5, he said.

Work on the bank, on a 23,000-square-foot lot overlooking Fletcher Parkway, began last June and was to be done by the end of the year, according to a bank spokeswoman last summer.

But Robert Kay, another superintendent for the builder, said recently that his crew had to pump out thousands of gallons of groundwater beneath the site on a an gas station, delaying construction. Rains also postponed work.

On Friday, about 15 people were working at the site of what will be called the La Mesa-Grossmont Bank Center.

As of Jan. 4, according to a report in the Arizona Republic, Comerica operates 493 banking centers across Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Texas, where it is headquartered (in Dallas).

Comerica reported total assets of $60.9 billion on Sept. 30, 2011.

Its latest bank is northeast Phoenix, which has several “eco-friendly” features.

“The numerous green-design features of our newest banking center serve as a
testament to Comerica’s core commitment to sustainability,” Bridget Cooney, senior vice president of Comerica's Arizona Retail Bank, said in a statement.