KodaBank branches into Grand Forks, N.D.

By Andrew Weeks

GRAND FORKS, N.D. • KodaBank is branching into the Grand Forks market with the construction of a new banking facility at the corner of 40th Avenue South and Columbia Road.

Koda held a groundbreaking ceremony in October, and according to Bank President and CEO Pete Anderson the new facility is on track to open by about July or August.

The 15,000 square-foot bank will be a little roomy for the small staff who will work there, he said, but it’ll provide room for future growth.

“We’ll be a little bare boned at first,” he said, noting the extra space will be up for lease. He hopes to get a professional business tenant, perhaps an accounting, law or real estate office.

Something unique about the structure: It will be a two-story building with a tunneled drive-thru in the middle. The bank will be on one side of the drive-thru, and the leased offices on the other. The bank’s offices will be located above the tunnel.

“It’s a little different,” he said, explaining this is Koda’s first bank with that feature. “We knew we weren’t going to use all of the space, and we wanted the bank on the corner, and so it was just something we came up with.”

Koda, whose parent company is Koda Bancor, operates banks in North Dakota and Minnesota. This is the company’s 11th bank, but its first in Grand Forks.

The project follows the merger of KodaBank with Citizens State Bank-Midwest in February. The merger, in turn, followed the trend of regional banks joining forces across the nation in an effort to be more competitive with their larger counterparts, according to a previous article by the Grand Forks Herald.

There are no other projects underway in the region by Koda, Anderson said, but that could change. He said the company is excited to expand into Grand Forks.