Why Salmon Creek?
Bryant said the infrastructure improvements happening in Salmon Creek – specifically the new overpass project – make the area much more attractive to a financial institution like Heritage.
“You’ve got the hospital (Legacy Salmon Creek) and Washington State University Vancouver to the east, but really everything residential up there is just packed on the west side [of Interstate 5],” he explained. “We’re thinking that a reconstructed 139th is going to help the east side businesses explode a little bit. We hope that’s the case and we’re optimistic that we’ll be able to find a spot.”
Capturing Clark County
Despite the bank’s relatively short history in Clark County (it entered the market after acquiring Bay Bank’s Vancouver branch in 2010), Heritage has wasted little time in planting roots here.
In September 2010, Heritage selected downtown Vancouver as its regional headquarters and renamed the building at the corner of Eighth and Washington streets. A month later, the bank purchased its east Vancouver site. A Salmon Creek location would bring the number of Heritage branches in the county to three.
“We’re now just sort of recalibrating the region and where we’re going to put our lure in the pond,” said Bryant. “Clark County certainly looms large for us.”
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