A makeover for the ages

When you walk into Port Washington State Bank’s newly renovated lobby in downtown Port Washington, the first thing that strikes you is how light, bright and airy it is.

Sunlight streams in the windows on the east and west sides of the bank, illuminating the wide hallway. 

Gone is the bank of teller’s windows that greeted customers. Instead, there is a wide hallway with offices on one side, but you might not notice those as quickly as your eye is caught by the collage of historic photos from the archives of the bank and the Port Washington Historical Society on the wall above the offices.

Or maybe your eye will go toward the large Lite-Brite like installation that’s the centerpiece of the children’s area. A colorful acrylic cutout of the city’s skyline, complete with landmarks such as St. Mary’s Catholic Church, the bandshell and lighthouse, tops the installation while below colorful pegs can be moved to create infinite works of art. Right now, that art is an abstract view of Earth.

There are colorful paintings of Port scenes in the personal banking offices done by local artist Curt Crain, while the commercial banking offices are decorated with works by Port photographer James Meyer that meld historic photographs of downtown and the lakefront with modern views.

“We tried to be pretty unique in what we did here,” Bank President and Chief Operating Officer James Schowalter said. “Obviously history is a huge part of the bank, the city and of our family.”

That history is reflected in the renovated bank building, which has melded the conveniences of today with historic touches and plenty of reminders that you are in Port Washington.

“We think we’ve created a space that lends itself to people looking for that traditional bank feeling as much as people looking for that modern banking vision,” Schowalter said. “We wanted to honor our past but we didn’t want to dwell on it. We wanted to look forward.”

The renovation, which started last April and was completed Monday, is a physical demonstration of the bank’s commitment to Port Washington, where it’s been headquartered since it was founded in 1899, Schowalter and his father Steve, the bank’s chairman and chief executive officer, agreed.

“We’re a fixture here, and we’re proud of that fact,” Steve Schowalter said. “We’ve been part of this city for a long time, and we’ve made a substantial monetary investment here.”

Port State Bank is one of the relatively few family-owned, independent banks in the state, but it’s more than that, James said.

“This is the community’s bank,” he said. “We want the community to feel comfortable here.”

And that is a large part of what went into the renovation, which was three years in the making, the Schowalters said.

They were set to do the renovations two years ago, but then got the opportunity to open a Mequon branch so they grabbed that chance.
“We hit pause,” Steve Schowalter said. “We were functioning fine.”

The pandemic hit just as work on the renovation started, and they debated whether to move ahead, he said. 

With much of the world shut down and their contractors ready, they took the leap, moving their lobby into the former Wilson House next door while the bank renovations were done.  

The bank renovation  took much of the building down to the studs and rebuilt it, updating roughly 11,000 of its 26,500 square feet.

The work was done by general contractor Redmond Co. of Waukesha with local subcontractors.

“That was important to us. We were able to have a lot of this project benefit Ozaukee County contractors,” James Schowalter said. “That’s something we continually focus on — how to benefit local businesses.

“There’s some amazing local talent.”

Some of the renovations were driven by need, the Schowalters said. For example, the personal banking offices had been in a communal setting before. But that isn’t conducive to much of the work done today, they said.

“There’s a lot more consultation that goes on today, and that brings up privacy issues. And so much of what we do is wonderfully positive, but sometimes we’re helping people through really difficult points in their life. It’s necessary to give them a space where they feel comfortable,” James Schowalter said, so private offices were included in the plan.

There was also a need to accommodate the growth in the size of the bank, which has 135 employees at its eight branch offices, 65 of them at the Port office, Steve Schowalter said.

There were changes to the drive-through and an ATM machine was added to the front of the building, something the Schowalters said will serve downtown shoppers. 

But not all the renovations are apparent. For example, the building now sports energy-efficient lighting and the bank’s training room was renovated, providing enough room to accommodate all the employees. 

Port State Bank has been updating most of its branch offices, starting with the Belgium and Fredonia branches in 2014. Work on the Port offices began several years ago, but much of the change was behind the scenes.

“The public space was really the last thing to tackle,” James Schowalter said, noting other areas of the building had been updated over the years. 

Steve Schowalter gave credit for the renovations to his son.

“We wanted to update the bank and give it a little younger feeling for the next generation of customers,” he said. “We still see a fair number of people come into our office.”

It was important to make the bank welcoming to customers, especially young people and families, James Schowalter said.

“I think it’s a fallacy to say that young people only want to deal with their phones,” he said. “Day-to-day, yes, they’ll use their phones. But it’s still nice to walk into a building and there’s someone who knows your name.”

That’s one reason the children’s center was important, he said. 

“We’re a community bank. We want our families to feel welcome here,” James Schowalter said. And if children want to play with the Lite-Brite wall even when their parents don’t need to conduct their banking, that’s OK.

It’s equally important for the bank employees to be happy and comfortable, and the renovation helped with that as well, the Schowalters said, noting they freshened workspaces and installed such features as standing desks.

Now that the renovation is complete, what’s next for the bank?

“We’re already dreaming,” Steve Schowalter said.