Tifton is known in most circles as a rural South Georgia town, but Bill Marsh, Market President for the Tifton-based Colony Bank office, says the town sees a lot of activity. “Tifton is a great community,” he adds. “We have the advantage of having two major highways, US 82 and I-75, running through the town so it brings a lot of activity nearby, but it still has that small town feel. We’re known as a friendly city with a very diverse community and economy.”

This past year, Colony Bank consolidated their two Tifton offices and their new location is one of the most unique locations in the downtown area. “It is very unique,” Marsh says. “We are really in the historic downtown area of town … and about as central to downtown as you can get. This is the heart of the city right where we are. Our location goes against the grain for what a lot of commercial businesses have done, but we think it’s a perfect location.”

Marsh says Colony Bank was sensitive to Tifton residents during the construction process.

“The location was actually a couple of buildings that were going to have to be removed but had meaning to Tifton residents, so we tried to maintain as much of the character of those buildings as well could. We used a lot of those materials into the building and design elements. If you are familiar with those old buildings, you would recognize the features on the outside.”

And Marsh says the inside is very modern and customer friendly.

“We have a coffee bar inside the bank where we took old neon signs and had those refurbished and they hang in coffee bar.”

The builders also repurposed the former light tower on the front of the building as well as old fixtures for the inside. They also had artists take photos of the old building and create a painting that is hanging in the conference room. 

“There is an old fixture that is a real eye catcher in our conference room, too.  The former building had an art deco style with curved glass block windows and we were able to salvage the glass blocks as well. Inside the conference room there is a lot of  natural light to really light up the glass and it looks really nice.”

Marsh says the new bank location employs 12 people and while the building has maintained much of its history, the inside workings are very modern, “right down to the lighting system.”

“It’s a very attractive building and the design makes it so people would want to walk inside the office and take a look. We’ve also decorated throughout the building … with prints and paintings all from local artists. 

“We are happy to be where we are. We’ve received tremendous support from the community on this project and very grateful for their support and we want to pay it back.”