After 10 years in the Dinkydome, TCF Bank will close Oct. 28 and move to the West Bank.
Following a month of making the 15th Avenue Southeast property “Wells Fargo-ready,” that bank will open its first full-service campus location Dec. 5, said Wells Fargo Minneapolis District Manager Jay Hall.
“We liked TCF, we had a good relationship with them,” said Chacke Scallen, vice president of Juno Investments, which owns the Dinkydome. “We just couldn’t get a long-term commitment from them.”
Ordinarily, tenants begin renegotiating leases six months before they expire. But when Scallen approached TCF this spring to talk about renewing their 10-year contract, the bank said they wanted a short-term extension. That was out of the question, so Juno signed Wells Fargo to a 5-year lease with an option to extend it, she said.
“We are businesspeople; we have to see that our locations are full,” she said.
TCF Bank received permission to open a West Bank Skyway branch in its on-campus stadium sponsorship deals negotiated with the University in March.
“We chose to only have two locations for the time being,” said Jason Korstange, TCF Bank’s director of corporate communication, referring to the new branch and the existing Stadium Village location.
Korstange said the new location, which opens Oct. 31, will offer the same services and most of the same staff as the Dinkytown location.
If the demand exists, TCF Bank “will be looking for a new branch,” possibly returning to Dinkytown, he said.
“We’ll be constantly looking for places it makes sense to put branches,” he said.
Alissa Zinc, a child psychology junior who frequents the TCF Bank Dinkytown branch, said she’s sad it’s moving.
“Something that was so convenient now requires an extra 10-minute walk,” said Zinc, a Dinkytown resident.
But child psychology senior Mohamed Selim, who works at a Bloomington TCF location, said the closure doesn’t mean much to him.
Scallen said many students from small towns don’t have access to TCF Banks at home, and use Wells Fargo.
“Those are the people who are delighted Wells Fargo is coming in,” she said.
Scallen said she’s been a happy TCF customer, using both personal and business accounts for years. But she’ll soon open a new account with Wells Fargo, she said.
Undecided sophomore Mandy Jackson, who works next door at the Dinkydome’s Student Book Store, said she will open a Wells Fargo account, too.
“It’s just really convenient,” she said.
Jackson said she has allegiance to “whatever’s the easiest.”
Hall said Wells Fargo is looking forward to finally expanding beyond their few ATM machines in Coffman Union.
“We think this is going to be an excellent opportunity to connect with the community,” he said.
In the newly renovated West Bank Skyway, in front of TCF Bank’s construction project, finance senior Dan Shively said the new branch is long overdue.
“We won’t have to rely on cash machines as our only means of banking,” said Shively, who for the past two years has had classes exclusively on the West Bank. “A cash machine won’t answer your questions.”
He said it’s appropriate for the branch to be next to the One Stop Student Services Center, because of the financial aid and student loan transactions that occur there.