Fort Worth-based NBT Financial is expanding with new branches, including Grapevine

Fort Worth-based NBT Financial broke ground on a new branch in Grapevine on Thursday.

The community bank, formerly named National Bank of Texas, has been serving the area for 52 years, starting in 1973 when the first branch opened in Fort Worth’s Northside. Other locations are in Hurst, Burleson, Azle and Willow Park. A west Fort Worth location will open this spring.

The Grapevine branch at 803 E. Northwest Highway, at the corner of Boyd Drive, is expected to open in October.

President and CEO Wade Donnell, who joined NBT in 2000, said community banks are becoming a rarity these days.

“So many have sold and been gobbled up,” Donnell said. “But the pace of our growth is we’re not going to be the biggest bank in the DFW, but we want to be the most important to our customers.”

Donnell, who has ties to the Grapevine community, said the bank has been looking for a location in Grapevine for about five to seven years.

“Our friends become our customers, and our customers become our friends,” Donnell said. “And it’s not corporate, it’s personal.”

Janice Spooner, a market president, said NBT Financial has a scholarship for Grapevine-Colleyville ISD seniors.

“It’s very important that we work hand-in-hand with the city and our partnerships with the chambers,” Spooner said.

NBT has a full range of financial services including traditional daily banking, a mobile app and a broad range of loans, including mortgages.

“Most of our loans, and customers are local people,” board chairman Steve Eargle said. “Whether they’re building hotels, strip centers where they buy some land and have retail businesses there, or residential commercial real estate developments, and home builders.”

Grapevine Mayor William D. Tate attended the groundbreaking along with council member Chris Coy, staff from Historic Preservation Commission and Nash Farm.

“I think the number of banks you have is some indication of the financial stability and the opportunity that a community offers to the public,” Tate said. “They’re the lifeblood of the economy.”

Tate said there are around 55,000 people in Grapevine, and NBT will be the 11th bank in the area.

Spooner said the bank is rooted in “heritage just like Grapevine.”

“From my perspective, this branch is a hub for the city, a hub for our community,” Spooner said. “To really come in and experience what it means to have a personal banker and someone who is going to walk through anything that you’re going through in life and help you be successful to the best of our ability.”

NBT Financial plans on opening a location on Camp Bowie Boulevard near Bryant Irving Road in March.