FIRST GREEN BANK TO OPEN DOWNTOWN ORLANDO FACILITY BY LATE NOVEMBER

MOUNT DORA, Fla. – First Green Bank, the Mount Dora-based community bank that ranks as one of the nation’s greenest banks and one of the nation’s safest banks, will open a branch location at 1118 S. Orange Ave. in downtown Orlando. Kenneth LaRoe, chairman and chief executive officer of First Green Bank, said the downtown Orlando location will be the bank’s fourth Central Florida office. The bank’s headquarters facility on U.S. 441 in Mount Dora is one of the only two commercial buildings in Florida to qualify for the U.S. Green Building Council’s Platinum rating for energy efficiency and sustainability. First Green Bank’s sustainability efforts led American Banker Magazine to rank First Green Bank as one of America’s “greenest” banks. Earlier this year, First Green Bank was named the U.S. Green Building Council’s 2011 Business of the Year. A recent survey of more than 7,300 U.S. Banks by Microsoft Network (msn.com) ranked First Green Bank one of the 359 safest banks in the U.S. and one of only 12 in Florida. In February, First Green Bank opened a branch location in Ormond Beach. First Green Bank also maintains a branch facility in Clermont. LaRoe said he plans to open the downtown Orlando bank location in late November. Meanwhile, LaRoe said he expects to open a Winter Park location by the summer of 2013 and later a location in The Villages.