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Rhinebeck Bank To Fill A Void In The City Of Newburgh

Broadway location where Rhinebeck Bank will open in Newburgh
WAMC, Allison Dunne
Broadway location where Rhinebeck Bank will open in Newburgh

A brick and mortar bank will open in Newburgh. The city hasn’t had a full-operation bank in a few years, a hole that Rhinebeck Bank will soon fill. Local lawmakers say the void has been noticeable, and welcome the new branch as an integral part of revitalization.

President and CEO Michael Quinn says Rhinebeck Bank will take up residence in the building on Broadway that once housed Citizens Bank.

“We do have a lot of confidence in Newburgh. There’s some great things going on there. Some money is coming in, I think, from the outside,” Quinn says. “I think people have realized how expensive Beacon has gotten, and now they’re looking at Newburgh.”

Newburgh is across the Hudson River from Beacon. Quinn expects the bank will service many local residents and small businesses, and hopes to open the doors in late May or early June.

“We do have some renovation work to do on the building. It’s a little dated on the outside. We’d like to spruce that up a little bit. We’ve got a couple of offices to build,” says Quinn. “We’re hoping to get that working doing by April. And I don’t have a time of how long it’s going to take them to complete that work but hopefully no more than 60 days, so hopefully by the end of June, but whether that slips into July or not, I don’t know.”

Newburgh Mayor Torrance Harvey:

“It’s a major, major step in the right direction,” says Harvey. “Newburgh is open for business.”

Quinn says the bank has received all of its required regulatory approvals to open in the city.

“My attraction is to underserved communities. I think it’s very important for communities to have a local bank. I think we have flexibility and really try to get involved in the communities that we’ve served. And I just think it’s important,” Quinn says. “When we saw all of the banks leave the City of Newburgh — the last two that were there I think were Key Bank and Citizens Bank — and they ended up leaving the city, it created a hole where normal people are not getting banking services anymore. And we think we can step into that void and provide service to people and have a positive impact on the entire community.”

Harvey, a Democrat, says a credit union had also left the city. He has been working with Quinn to fill the banking void.

“Local businesses, our residents, people that work in our city want to have somewhere to go to take care of their banking needs. We’ve also been working on banking products that are going to hopefully cater toward low-income, mid-income families so that we can get some more homeowners for those longtime residents who have been here for decades and still marginalized,” Harvey says. “So it’s just a great thing and it falls in line with a lot of our revitalization efforts.”

Again, Quinn:

“There is one full-service bank in the city limits, to be technical but it’s right at the outskirt of the city and not in the downtown business district or in the city proper, as we think of it, anyways,” says Quinn.

Democratic state Senator James Skoufis represents the 39th District, which includes Newburgh.

“Unfortunately, that’s pretty commonplace for minority majority and underserved communities throughout the state. You have these banking, you have these financial deserts that exist, and it’s not a coincidence that many of these communities are transportation-challenged, folks don’t have cars,” says Skoufis. “And so this is great news for the City of Newburgh. I hope it’s indication of more to come, but having one is a pretty big deal when you’re currently at zero. And so it provides an opportunity to a lot of residents who right now literally have no opportunity to do real banking in the community.”

Quinn says Newburgh isn’t the only Orange County locale for a new Rhinebeck Bank branch.

“We have two new branches, which we are purchasing from Connect One Bank, in Warwick and Monroe, which has already been announced,” Quinn says. “So this will make it our fourth branch in Orange County, and we’re looking at a fifth location that hopefully we’ll have an announcement on soon.”

The fifth location will also be in Orange County. The Newburgh branch will be the fourth Rhinebeck Bank location in Orange County, joining Goshen, Monroe and Warwick. Quinn expects the Monroe and Warwick branches to open March 15. Rhinebeck Asset Management is headquartered in Montgomery.

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