BY JESSICA PARKS
Chase Bank has offi cially
returned to Coney Island, after
closing its building in 2012
due to damages dealt from Superstorm
Sandy.
“We are an underbanked
community,” said Councilmember
Mark Treyger at a
Nov. 29 grand opening of the
new bank. “Residents should
not have to travel to another
zip code to conduct day-to-day
banking, which to me was
outrageous and offensive.”
Local politicians applauded
the big-name banker
for bringing the second fullservice
bank into the neighborhood,
which, before Monday,
only had one other
full-service Citibank at the
western end of Mermaid Avenue.
As a result, the area’s
most vulnerable residents
had to put their trust in local
check-cashing businesses.
“After Superstorm Sandy,
the West End of Coney Island
lost its only commercial bank.
The banking desert that was
left behind hurt low-income
residents and the elderly, allowing
COURIER LIFE, D 10 ECEMBER 10-16, 2021
predatory check cashing
institutions and payday
lenders to fi ll the void,” said
US Rep. Hakeem Jeffries at
the ribbon-cutting, which
was also attended by state
Sen. Diane Savino, District
47 Councilmember-elect Ari
Kagan and Brooklyn Chamber
of Commerce head Randy
Peers.
The area’s electeds worked
for years with Coney Island
residents and community leaders
to bring full-service banking
back to the peninsula.
“Now, retail banking is
offi cially back on Mermaid
Ave,” Jeffries said.
After Sandy wreaked havoc
on its location, Chase operated
a mobile branch just two blocks
away from the vacated Mermaid
Avenue building, at the
intersection of W. 17th Street,
Area politicians and business leaders help cut the ribbon on the new bank. Chase Bank
until 2016 when it opened an
ATM outside of their W. 15th
Street building. All the while,
locals lamented the loss of the
full-service bank.
“Staff were forced to work
out of a trailer,” Treyger said.
“The conditions after Sandy
were not good for the residents
and for the staff at Chase and
we had tried to work with
them to fi nd an alternate site
because the trailer was just
not working.”
“It was a real punch to
the gut when we got the news
they were going to leave altogether,”
he added
Now, the company has reopened
at 1428 Mermaid Ave.
at the W. 15th Street building
at the same location as their
ATM, just a few blocks away
from their original location.
Treyger said the reopening
of Chase Bank was a team
effort by the neighborhood’s
stakeholders that took years of
their energy to coordinate and
is emblematic of the neighborhood’s
never-give-up attitude.
“I think it is indicative of
who we are as a people in Coney
Island, we are resilient,
we are strong, we’re tough, we
continue to battle until we get
things done for our residents,”
he said.
The outgoing councilmember
thanked the Russo family,
who own Gargiulo’s and
La Tombola, for providing a
space for the money-lender at
their Mermaid Avenue building
— the same building as
Gargiulo’s — and to the Alliance
for Coney Island for making
the introduction.
He added that the reopening
of Coney Island Chase Bank is
one of a wave of reopenings
he believes is coming to the
neighborhood — pointing to
the recent reopening of the
Coney Island YMCA, support
to local businesses and recent
funding from the American
Rescue Plan Act.
“I think it’s a harbinger of
things to come,” Treyger.
BANK ON IT!
Chase Bank returns to Coney
Island after nearly a decade
NEED A LAWYER?
TRUST EXPERIENCE
• DIVORCE - Uncontested and Contested
• FAMILY LAW
• CHILD SUPPORT & CUSTODY
• VISITATION • PATERNITY
• REAL ESTATE CLOSINGS
• TRAFFIC COURT
2020 BES T O F BK. COM
• WILLS, PROBATE & ESTATES
• SURROGATE'S COURT LITIGATION
• ELDER LAW
FREE CONSULTATION
ON ALL ACCIDENT CASES
Auto-Bus-Truck-Taxi-Subway Accidents-Slip &
Fall - Nursing Home Neglect-Wrongful Death
Office Appointments Available
Zoom-Skype and FaceTime Consultations
BEST DIVORCE
ATTORNEY