EVERETT — Coastal Community Bank has grown considerably over the past few years and is one of the few Snohomish County-based financial institutions to survive the recession of 2008.
Coastal now has assets valued at $360 million. From the $10 million originally invested by local shareholders, the capital base now stands at more than $35 million.
“We’ve had 11 straight quarters of profitability now,” Coastal Community Bank CEO Eric Sprink said recently. “It’s just going in the right direction.”
The bank’s staff is growing in size, too. Two years ago, Coastal Community Bank had 62 employees. Today it has 92 employees and eight branches in Snohomish and Island counties with two new branches under construction in Snohomish County.
Construction is close to completion on Coastal’s newest branch in Snohomish. It’s being built on the site of the old Hub drive-in, which was a Snohomish institution for 50 years before it fell victim to the recession.
“Hopefully by the fourth quarter, if not then, by early in the first quarter, we’ll be open in Snohomish,” Sprink said. “It’s a great location and we’re excited to be in that community.”
Coastal’s future Smokey Point branch is the former headquarters of North County Bank. When it failed in 2010, state regulators assigned North County Bank’s accounts and some other assets to Whidbey Island Bank. Coastal now runs its operations group out of the building, but the administrative office will become a full-blown branch for retail customers sometime in the second quarter of next year, Sprink said.
The timing for the Smokey Point branch couldn’t be better, Sprink said. For the bank’s customers and potential customers who live in growing north Snohomish County and commute to the south county and beyond, the branch’s location should prove convenient.
Additionally, an overpass at 156th Street NE over I-5 will be complete before the branch opens. That project is designed to relieve chronic congestion along 172nd Street NE and improve access to the Twin Lakes Shopping Center west of I-5, creating easier access to surrounding businesses such as the new Coastal branch. The overpass also offers better access to areas that could become future commercial, light industrial or residential sites.
That’s good news for banks like Coastal that lend to small businesses. Its business customers include aerospace firm Precision Airmotive in Arlington, window glass manufacturer Goldfinch Brothers in Everett and coffee roaster Cascade Coffee.
As a small local business, Coastal understands where other small local businesses are coming from, Sprink said. “We believe in investing local, our dollars are reallocated locally, our profits are kept local,” he said.
He believes Coastal is an example of a true community bank, where you can meet with your banker to explain your business plan and loan needs and have products and services tailored to fit.
Too often, Sprink said, businesses think they’re dealing with a community bank only to find themselves filling out generic forms that are then sent to an office in another part of the country.
Sprink said Snohomish County businesses should do business with one another whenever possible. His board of directors, which includes board chairman Tom Lane of the Dwayne Lane automotive dealer group, are all local business people who are active in the community.
Coastal Community Bank has operated in Snohomish County for 16 years, with the original location on Colby Avenue in Everett. The future is hopeful, Sprink said. The economy has improved. Regulators have worked with Coastal and Sprink expects they will continue to do so, especially in light of their improving profitability.
“We’re looking forward again,” he said.
More from The Herald Business Journal: www.theheraldbusinessjournal.com
Coastal’s profit picture
Coastal Financial Corp., the holding company for Coastal Community Bank, posted a third-quarter profit of $424,956. Year to date, CFC has recognized earnings of $867,844 compared to a net loss for the first nine months of 2011 of $502,275.
Third-quarter and year-to-date highlights:
•Net income grows by $1,370,000 in the first nine months of 2012 to a positive $867,844.
Net interest margin was reached 4.51 percent in the first nine months of 2012, up from 4.27 percent in the same period of 2011, due largely to the impact of steady loan yields, decreased troubled loans and better funding sources for loans.
Year to date total asset growth of $81.8 million, up 29 percent to $365 million as of Sept. 30.
Year to date loan growth to a record $285.4 million, a $73 million or 34 percent increase as of Sept. 30.
Continued loan quality improvement with past due loans less than 1 percent (.03 percent) of total loans. Additionally, Other Real Estate Owned totaled $3.2 million on Sept. 30, down from $6.1 million on Dec. 31, 2011.
Year to date total deposits grow to $323 million, up 29 percent.
Non-interest bearing deposits increased to $76.5 million, 24 percent of total deposits as of Sept. 30. Non-interest bearing deposits grew $26.2 million, up 52 percent from Sept. 30, 2011.
Capital ratios continue to substantially exceed regulatory requirements, with total risk based capital at 12.83 percent.
Largest Small Business Administration lender in Snohomish County for the SBA fiscal calendar year ending Sept. 30, in both dollars and numbers of loans.
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