Atlanta-based bank continues its push into Middle Georgia with another branch office

Atlanta-based Fidelity Bank continues its move into Middle Georgia.

Fidelity has bought the former SunTrust Bank branch at 3201 Vineville Ave., and “it will be totally renovated inside,” said Jim Miller, chairman of the bank’s holding company, Fidelity Southern Corp. “It will be gutted, and then we’re going to heavily landscape the outside. We want it to shine in that neighborhood.”

The outside of the building will be cleaned and painted but not physically different, Miller said.

“It’s going to be about the first of the year before everything is done,” he said. “We will use Vineville as our headquarters’ location.”

The branch would employ six people initially and plans are to add a mortgage department there.

Fidelity opened its first midstate branch in February at 4290 Hartley Bridge Road — another former SunTrust building.

Miller, who has family ties to Middle Georgia, said he’s looking forward to opening on Vineville Avenue.

“We really like that neighborhood,” he said. “It’s old, and that street needs some freshening, and we think we can be part of the effort to help freshen up the street.”

The company expects to open more branches in Macon, but there is no time line for that happening yet.

Fidelity Bank was founded in 1974 and is owned by Fidelity Southern Corp., one of the largest bank holding companies based in Atlanta with $4.5 billion in assets and more than 1,500 employees. The company has more than 65 branches in Georgia and Florida.

This story was originally published August 2, 2018 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Atlanta-based bank continues its push into Middle Georgia with another branch office."