Community First Bank opens Baxter loan office

Walhalla-based Community First bank has opened a new Loan Production Office in Fort Mill’s Baxter Village.

Bank officials says they hope the office will eventually expand into a full-service branch of Community First.

The loan office opened in June with two employees. The bank could add four to six more employees in a year to 18 months, according to Commercial Lending Officer Shawn Widrick.

Widrick, a 1996 graduate of Fort Mill High School and 2000 graduate of Winthrop University, is in charge of the office. He has worked in the financial and banking industries since he graduated from Winthrop and has been with Community First since Mid-May.

He said Fort Mill is a great location for Community First to expand into because it’s a “booming economy (and we) want to be a part of it.”

Community First President and CEO Richard Burleson said the move was an easy choice.

“(Fort Mill) is a very vibrant place,” he said with “a small town feel with Charlotte right next door. The growth of the market is just enormous,” Burleson said.

Community First Bank opened in Oconee County in 1990. The bank currently has seven full-service banking locations across the upstate in Anderson, Walhalla, Oconee, Williamston and Westminster and Loan Production Offices in Greenville and Spartanburg.

This story was originally published July 12, 2016 at 3:29 PM with the headline "Community First Bank opens Baxter loan office."