Olivette Gets Its Third Lending Institution

So Olivette is getting still another bank. Fifth Third Bank has broken ground on the location on Olive Street across the street at Indian Meadows Drive. This was a Hardee's Restaurant location until six months ago.

The chain-linked "keep out" of the construction fence is up smack dab between the bowling alley and the Dobbs Auto store.

Hardee's ownership came to the Olivette City Council way back when with a grandious plan to remodel the joint. They even had plans to turn parking lot lighting inward as not to disturb the neighbors. So much for planning. Hardee's is just a fleeting memory now.

No more sunrise biscuits.

Does Olivette need a third lending institution? Good question. There are but 7,500 souls in Olivette give or take a few, and now they have a Bank of America, a Venture Credit Union and by mid-2012, a FifthThird Bank. That leaves a bank for every 2,500 residents or so.

We need to institute the game of monopoly. "I'll trade you two banks for one grocery store."

When I first noticed the fence and construction area, I thought to myself, good deal, Olivette is going to build a municipal swimming pool. No such luck.

So why all the banks all of a sudden? Didn't anyone mention we are in a protracted recession?

People used to constantly ask Jesse James why he mainly robbed banks. "Simple," he said, 'That's where all the money is."

Good prompt.

It's not like we don't have other banks in the hood. Ladue is chock full of branch banks, and there are dozens and dozens more in University City, Clayton and other nearby townships. Creve Coeur has a bank on the corner of Olive and Warson and most casual observers think it's in Olivette. It missed landing in Olivette by a few hundred feet.

Frontenac has something called a Beal Bank. I bet they even have some customers.

Mayor Jean Antoine said the city had little to say about this one. "They just told us they were coming into town,"said the mayor.

City Manager Mike McDowell said Fifth Third has been looking for a location along Olive Street for some time.

Development is always progressive, so from this standpoint, getting a bank is good news.

Now if I need an auto loan or a home improvement loan, I won't even have to get into my car to get one. I can simply walk to the corner and make application.

I'm old enough to remember when branch banking was simply not allowed in Missouri. Forget that statute, we've now got a lending institution on every corner in town.

That's good, cause now the modern day Jesse James will have even one more new target to stick up.