Bank of Central Florida breaks ground on second Tampa location

Bank of Central Florida recently broke ground on a second location in Tampa in a milestone for the bank as it expands beyond its Polk County stronghold.

The location on Howard Avenue is slated to open next fall, a little more than a year and a half after the bank launched in Tampa with an office on the corner of Kennedy Boulevard and North Dale Mabry Highway. The bank is shifting focus to growth in this market after adding offices in Winter Haven, Plant City and Orlando since the launch of a five-year strategic plan in 2020, according to President David Moore.

Bank of Central Florida’s assets have doubled in size in the last five years to surpass the $1 billion mark, and “we’re not done by any stretch of the imagination,” he said.

Moore said he sees a big opportunity to build market share with commercial clients in the Interstate 4 corridor where the Bank of Central Florida is plotting new territory. After industry consolidation over the last two decades has left a void in community banking, “there’s demand for the type of relationship banking we bring,” he said.

Tampa Bay Market Executive Lauren Fernandez has built a team of 18 local bankers since she was tapped to lead Bank of Central Florida’s expansion in Tampa, Moore said.

“The ability to build a team here is when we shifted our focus to the Tampa Bay area. Lauren was a critical hire for that,” Moore said.

Expanding through brick-and-mortar is key to the bank’s strategy. Physical locations not only enable closer contact with commercial clients and help with deposit gathering — they also support branding. Bank of Central Florida operated exclusively in Lakeland between its founding in 2007 until it opened an Orlando office in 2018, and “businesses need to see us in the market,” Moore said.

"But it's not about the number of offices; it's the quality of relationships," he said.

Bank of Central Florida is the fifth-largest bank based in Tampa Bay, with $1.04 billion in assets.