Crews ready to begin downtown bank expansion

(Above) Machinery has been moved into place to begin demolition soon for the expansion of CLB&T on Main.-Reporter photo by Chris Barragy.

Work has begun on an expansion project at Clear Lake Bank and Trust’s Main Avenue downtown location.

Dean Snyder Construction, Clear Lake, worked to secure the site last week and is ready to begin razing the building located immediately west of the downtown bank location.  A pair of businesses which occupied the building, j avenue and Lyla’s, are no longer in business.  Due to structural issues, the building must be torn down, according to bank officials.

A two story addition to the bank will be constructed by Dean Snyder Construction, of Clear Lake.  The project will adjoin CLBT’s current office with the property the bank has owned, but rented to retail and personal tenants since the 1990s.

Clear Lake Bank and Trust President and CEO Mark Hewitt said the bank purchased the properties 15 years ago knowing it would one day outgrow its existing footprint.Hewitt said the bank investigated several possibilities for the expansion, but engineers ultimately determined the only feasible solution was to proceed with plans to expand to the west.

A tentative timeline for the work calls for the sidewalk in front of the building site to be restored by late fall or early winter 2017.  Building completion is anticipated by April 2018.