What began as a single community bank in a tiny Minnesota town has since expanded into an enterprise with eleven locations across the state and, most recently, in Fargo, North Dakota.

 

Border Bank can trace its roots back to the founding of Greenbush State Bank in 1935. The bank’s 1993 merger with Badger State Bank jump-started a period of rapid growth, resulting in seven new Minnesota locations. Border Bank opened its first Fargo location in 2020 after merging with Union State Bank, and quickly realized it would need more space to match the growing Fargo-Moorhead area. 

The Bank’s newest branch–a former Bank of the West on 32nd Avenue–began welcoming employees in May 2022 after just nine months of renovations. 

Completing a major renovation in such a short period of time required Border Bank to assemble an innovative and collaborative team. The general contractor for the project was Border Construction. Kelley Bauer of wild | crg took the lead on architecture, while Interoffice’s Sarah Huckle supported with furniture and interior design.

“By the time I came into the picture, there was a dream, a concept, and a direction that they were going,” Huckle said. “We worked closely to complete that dream with the furniture, fabrics, and finishes.”

Border Bank’s Director of Business Development, Kory Shae, presented the team with a challenge: giving the dated 23-year-old building a fresh look. 

“It had essentially not been touched since 1998,” Shae said. “We are good at banking, not picking fabric colors. I believe it’s best to trust the experts, so I told them that I wanted it to be timeless and minimalistic, and then I picked nothing.” 

Huckle worked in tandem with the wild | crg team to ensure that furniture and finishes were cohesive with flooring and paint colors. For desks, Huckle selected a dark walnut finish on ash wood to accentuate the teakwood ceiling. For upholstery, she utilized a variety of warm neutrals, paired with accents of navy blue to tie in Border Bank’s brand.

”Our goal was to create a space where people would want to be, even if they didn’t have to.

Most importantly, the team succeeded in creating an environment that makes customers and employees alike feel welcome. The building’s main level houses the customer-facing bank, where Shae wanted customers to feel more like they are walking into a cafe than a bank. To achieve this, Huckle utilized a variety of seating options, including custom cushioned built-in benches. The built-in bench wrapping the space, paired with OFS Skara high-back lounge chairs, invite guests to gather around the fireplace. The lounge chairs are finished in a deep blue, velvet-like upholstery and wrapped in a soft, faux leather wrapped shell.

The first-floor break room was designed to feel like a comfortable lounge–a place where people would actually enjoy spending their break time. The space offers an array of seating options, including a cozy OFS Heya high-back booth area for up to four people, a few individual countertop stools peering out the window, and a high-top café table for two.

“Kory paid a lot of attention to spaces where some people might just throw a table and chairs,” Huckle said. “He said, ‘Let’s make this a place where people will actually want to hang out.’”

That same philosophy was carried up the stairs to the second level, which consists of administrative offices and Border Bank’s leasing company. 

“We don’t tell people that they have to work from the bank,” Shae said. “Our goal was to create a space where people would want to be, even if they didn’t have to.”

This posed another challenge for the team, as a wide range of ages are represented within Border Bank’s employees. Millennials, who have spent their education and careers working in open, collaborative settings, work alongside Baby Boomers and Gen X, who are more accustomed to a traditional, walled-off workspace.

”We feel very blessed to work with really good partners.

“All of those generations work so differently, and their requirements and requests for their space are so different. How do you meld those into one and aesthetically please everybody?” Shae asked. 

The answer to Shae’s question was simple: choice. When designing the bank’s second level, Huckle and Bauer prioritized providing employees with options of how and where they could work. 

“I wanted to adapt it to something that would be more conducive to collaboration, but still fit the needs of people that wanted to work in an individual setting,” Huckle said. 

One option is an “away room,” furnished with a large, sleek sectional from OFS furniture paired with a classic Lily lounge chair from 9 to 5 Seating. Finished off with easy pull-up tables, a floor lamp, accent pillows, and artwork, no details went unnoticed. Employees can utilize this space for phone calls or one-on-one conversations, or simply to take a quiet break in their day.

“Our employees want those amenities they could find in their home,” Shae said. “Our people are really important to us. They are the ones on the front lines every day, and they deserve the best of the best.”

Offices are separated from the main space by glass, rather than walls, so employees can enjoy privacy while still feeling connected to one another. Each individual office comes with a large window, ample natural light, and one of Shae’s first requests: a height-adjustable desk from MillerKnoll.

“He said to me, ‘Everyone needs an ergonomic desk and a comfy chair,’” Huckle said. “And if anyone had a special request, Kory would let us know what they wanted. That made it very clear that Border Bank’s focus is their people.”

Huckle had some help putting the finishing touches on this project. She collaborated with InterOffice Residential Expert Sheila Hanson to select art for the offices and communal spaces.

“As I was hanging a piece of art in one employee’s office, she came to me and said, ‘I used to not enjoy coming to work. Now I literally come to work early because I love being here so much,’” Hanson said. 

But the focal point of their open collaboration area is a 4×16-foot community table from Herman Miller, equipped with power sources and surrounded by classic Eames stools. It is a home base for employees to have a quick meeting, collaborate on a project, eat lunch, or just sit and socialize.

“Employees from other locations come here often. We don’t want them to feel like a guest in their own home,” Shae said. “If they come in for a meeting, they can wait in this space and sit, work, have coffee, even have a beer. It shows that when you come into this space, you are welcome here. This is your home too.”

By picking the right partners and prioritizing the needs of their people, Border Bank has transformed a 23-year-old building into a modern environment that can accommodate all generations of employees and customers.

“We feel very blessed to work with really good partners. We had to make sure that every vendor could work well together, and they worked together perfectly,” Shae said. “I think that’s why this project went really well.”