UPPER LAKE, Calif. – After it closes this week, Westamerica Bank's Upper Lake branch will become the property of Hospice Services of Lake County, which is working on plans for the next stage of the building's history.
The branch, located at 9470 Main St., will close permanently at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 16.
Corrigan Gommenginger, executive director of Hospice Services, confirmed his organization will receive the deed to the building next week.
It's the first time that Gommenginger is aware of the nonprofit – which helps hundreds of Lake County residents with health and bereavement services annually – receiving a donation of a building.
Hospice Services has annual gross revenues of about $4 million from patient care and its thrift stores, Gommenginger said.
Altogether, he said the organization serves about 300 patients through its hospice care each year, offering bereavement support to another 800 community members annually.
He said Westamerica didn't give a specific reason about why it was divesting itself of the bank property.
Westamerica has been Hospice Services' bank for a number of years. “I think that was one of the contributing factors of why they chose us,” he said.
Westamerica originally had intended to close the bank in April, but after it announced its plans to close publicly early this year – citing low transactional volume – community outcry and the intervention of local and state officials resulted in a six-month delay.
In May, the Hospice Services Board voted to approve the building donation and authorized Gommenginger to accept it from Westamerica Bank on Hospice Services' behalf, he said.
“This is an extremely generous contribution from Westamerica,” which has been a longtime supporter of Hospice Service, Gommenginger said.
He added that the gift highlighted Westamerica's commitment not just to Hospice Services but to the community.
The closure of the bank will be the end of an era for Upper Lake, which has had its own bank downtown since 1921.
The Main Street branch building has housed a bank since it was built in 1959. Gommenginger said the two-story building is 3,000 square feet in size, with a kitchen, two bathrooms, a meeting space and 24 parking spots behind it.
The building is assessed at $351,000 by the county, with Westamerica putting its value at $500,000, Gommenginger said. An appraisal to determine the value for the purposes of the donation is set to take place this week.
Hospice Services will have its insurance in place on the building by this weekend, with the agreement with the bank requiring that the organization take possession of the building either on or after Saturday, Gommenginger said.
He said Hospice Services will be on site with the bank on Monday as the building is being cleared out.
The building's furniture, chairs and some other items also are being donated to Hospice Services, which Gommenginger said will either be used to furnish the building or will be taken to the organization's thrift shops.
Debbie Hablutzel, president of the Upper Lake Community Council, said Westamerica Bank also has shared with local organizations items such as Christmas decorations used in the town's annual holiday celebration.
Gommenginger said the Hospice Services Board held a strategic meeting in September regarding uses for the building, but so far haven't come to any final decisions, he said.
“Our board of directors has asked that we do research and try and see what we can use the building for,” with a view to making a final recommendation, he said.
He said there are a number of different options being considered, all of which take into consideration the needs of the Upper Lake community.
He said the organization has done outreach to the community to ask about what community members want to see.
Hablutzel – who lobbied hard to have the bank remain open – said Gommenginger had reached out to the town council earlier this year about Hospice Services taking over the building.
Gommenginger said a high end boutique-style thrift store is one possibility, with Upper Lake businesses Hospice Services spoke to being fairly comfortable with that possibility.
Other possibilities include a retail or food establishment, and he said other organizations – private and tribal – have reached out to Hospice Services to express interest in renting the building.
As for what they've heard from the community, “Their No. 1 request was a bank,” Gommenginger said.
Hablutzel confirmed that the downtown merchants continue to hope at least for an ATM to be located in the downtown.
However, he said Westamerica Bank has indicated that the deed for the building will include a clause preventing any banking facility, ATM or night deposit being located in the building for 10 years.
He said bank officials said that was “pretty standard with the other buildings that they've donated,” adding that this is the bank's fourth building donation.
Other than banking, no ideas for the building's future use are off the table, Gommenginger said, adding, “Any ideas that people have, we're open to hearing them.”
Anyone who has an idea or suggestion about future uses of the building is invited to call Gommenginger at the Hospice Services of Lake County Lakeport headquarters office, 707-263-6222.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.