LV Norwest, Wells Fargo branches’ fate decided

Monday, Feb. 8, 1999 | 10:36 a.m.

One of four things will happen to Las Vegas branches of Wells Fargo and Norwest banks because of their merger.

Bank officials Friday finalized their decisions on what to do with excess branches. Combined with earlier decisions, here is what is happening to local branches:

Some Las Vegas Wells Fargo branches, both standalone and those in grocery stores, will remain open and keep their Wells Fargo signs.

Some Norwest branches will remain open but will switch their signs to the Wells Fargo brand.

Some Norwest and Wells Fargo branches are being sold to California Federal Bank and soon will have Cal Fed signs. Accounts at those branches will automatically move to Cal Fed.

Some Norwest and Wells Fargo branches will close. Accounts will be switched to a nearby branch that either now or in the future will sport a Wells Fargo sign.

As for the last option, 42 Wells and Norwest branches statewide will be consolidated into 21 by early next year.

Bank officials said Friday they are closing offices where Wells Fargo and Norwest offices are close enough to overlap for customers.

Most of the consolidations involve offices that competed with each other before the merger. In one instance, two Norwest offices in the Summerlin area are being combined into one.

Of the 21 consolidations, 11 will affect customers in Southern Nevada while the other 10 are in Northern Nevada.

In most cases, the Norwest office will be the one that closes, while in some instances no decision has been reached on which office would remain open.

Wells Fargo branches located in supermarkets are unaffected by the consolidations.

Bryan Waters, president of Southern Nevada retail banking for Wells, said there would be no job losses as a result of the consolidation. The affected branches "either share the same parking lot or are in very close proximity to each other," he said.

The consolidations aren't expected to occur until late this year or early next year and the disposition of unused buildings hasn't been determined.

Wells Fargo's list of consolidations in Southern Nevada:

Norwest Boulder City, 1000 Nevada Highway, will consolidate into Wells Fargo Boulder City, 412 Nevada Highway.

Norwest North Las Vegas, 2025 Civic Center Drive, will consolidate into Wells Fargo North Las Vegas, 2103 Civic Center Drive.

Norwest Rainbow Ridge, 3104 N. Rainbow Blvd., will consolidate into Wells Fargo West Cheyenne, 6110 W. Cheyenne Ave.

Norwest Spring Mountain, 6145 W. Spring Mountain Road will consolidate into Wells Fargo Spring Mountain-Jones, 3555 S. Jones Blvd.

Norwest Summerlin-Lake Mead, 9350 W. Lake Mead Blvd., will consolidate into Wells Fargo Sun City Summerlin, 9410 W. Lake Mead Blvd.

Norwest Sunset-McLeod, 2690 E. Sunset Road, will consolidate into Wells Fargo Sunset-Eastern, 2420 E. Sunset Road.

Norwest Summerlin-Rampart, 2283 Rampart Blvd., will consolidate into Norwest Buffalo-Lake Mead, 7590 W. Lake Mead Blvd.

Wells Fargo Nucleus Plaza, 924 W. Owens Ave., will consolidate into Norwest Nucleus Plaza, 910 W. Owens Ave.

Norwest West Charleston-Decatur, 4800 W. Charleston Blvd., will consolidate into Wells Fargo Westland Mall, 4595 W. Charleston Blvd.

Wells Fargo Harris-Nellis, 791 N. Nellis Blvd., will combine with Norwest Nellis-Bonanza, 5085 Bonanza Road, but no decision has been made as to which location will be the site.

Wells Fargo Maryland Parkway, 3433 S. Maryland Parkway, will combine with Norwest Maryland-Twain, 3745 S. Maryland Parkway, but no decision has been made on the site.

"We considered several factors including location, facilities and future expansion possibilities," Laura Schulte, president and chief executive officer of Wells Fargo Nevada, said in a release issued on Friday. "Above all we didn't want to inconvenience our customers or employees."

Friday's announcement is the second phase of Wells Fargo's merger transition with Norwest.

The $32 billion merger between Minneapolis-based Norwest and Wells Fargo of San Francisco was completed in November, but a consolidation of resources began earlier in Nevada because the Justice Department determined the companies had too great a market share in Nevada and Arizona.

Regulators generally prohibit banks from holding more than 30 percent of the deposits in any market.

As a result, the companies moved in October to divest themselves of 12 Nevada branches with $637 million in deposits. Five of the offices were in Las Vegas and Henderson. An auction was conducted and in November, California Federal Bank, a San Francisco-based savings and loan that is the second largest in the nation, was announced as the successful bidder.

Terms of that deal and the number of bidders were not disclosed. The transition of the branches to Cal Fed offices is expected to be completed by April.

In the deal, Cal Fed picked up former Norwest branches at 2625 E. Desert Inn Road; 9325 W. Sahara Ave.; 3333 E. Tropicana Ave.; 103 S. Rainbow Blvd.; and 546 S. Boulder Highway in Henderson.

Five other Norwest outlets in Carson City, Elko, Winnemucca and two in Reno and two Wells Fargo branches in Fallon and Yerington also were part of the Cal Fed deal.

Cal Fed's Nevada expansion more than doubled the number of branches it operates in the state. At the time of the transaction, Cal Fed moved into a solid No. 3 position in market share by deposits in Nevada behind Bank of America and Wells Fargo.

That standing has since been challenged by First Security Bank of Salt Lake City, which acquired two Northern Nevada banks, Nevada Banking Co. and Comstock Bancorp, which were bought in December and January, respectively.

Now, with about $1.2 billion in assets in the state each, Cal Fed and First Security are in a close race for the No. 3 position in market share.

Many Wells Fargo customers will be unaffected by the consolidations or the divestitures announced Friday and in November. Wells has 10 stand-alone offices, 24 branch offices in Lucky supermarkets and two in Vons supermarkets that will continue to operate.

Other branches unaffected by the changes: Green Valley-Olympic, 2196 Olympic Ave.; Henderson, 112 Water St.; Pecos-Wigwam, 101 N. Pecos Road; Boulder-Indios, 4578 Boulder Highway; Las Vegas Tower, 3800 Howard Hughes Parkway; Rainbow-Sahara, 2501 S. Rainbow Blvd.; Rancho Business Center and Twin Lakes, 801 S. Rancho Drive; Spring Mountain-Valley View, 3755 W. Spring Mountain Road; Tropicana-Eastern, 4720 S. Eastern Ave.; and Vista Plaza, 4500 E. Tropicana Ave.

Fourteen Norwest branches also are not a part of the consolidations or divestitures. Ultimately, they will take on the Wells Fargo name when the bank completes sign changes by next year. Those branches:

Crossroads, 1411 W. Sunset Road; Decatur, 1775 N. Decatur Blvd.; Downtown, 201 Las Vegas Blvd. South; East Charleston, 1700 E. Charleston Blvd.; East Charleston-Marion, 21 Marion Drive; Financial Center, 3300 W. Sahara Ave.; Green Valley, 2231 N. Green Valley Parkway; Jones-Tropicana, 6120 W. Tropicana Ave.; Lakes East, 8190 W. Sahara Ave.; McCarran International Airport, adjacent to A & B concourse security checkpoint; Meadows, 3900 Meadows Lane; Paradise Valley, 3726 E. Flamingo Road; Spring Valley, 4016 S. Rainbow Blvd.; and West Charleston, 4800 W. Charleston Blvd.