Liberty Bank's Western Massachusetts team poses for a photo inside the bank's new downtown Springfield loan office in the fall of 2023. Photo courtesy of Liberty Bank.

Connecticut-based Liberty Bank recently opened a new loan office in Springfield, and is set to open a full-size branch in East Longmeadow “later this fall” as it chases what it believes is strong growth potential in the Western Massachusetts market.

The new loan office is located on the 22nd floor of One Monarch Place in downtown Springfield. This is Liberty’s second loan production office after opening its first one at 94 Shaker Road in East Longmeadow in 2021.

In addition to the Springfield loan office, Liberty Bank is set to open a full-service bank branch on the same East Longmeadow address “later this fall” given the strong demand and growth potential for banking and lending in the Pioneer Valley and the Berkshires.

The bank said that it wanted “further penetration and exposure in the Western Mass. market, which precipitated the move to downtown Springfield.”

“Expanding our presence in Western Mass and moving the team to downtown Springfield is a natural extension of building our market footprint along the [Interstate] 91 corridor that starts in New Haven and ends in Springfield’s financial district,” David W. Glidden, president and CEO of Liberty Bank, said in a statement.

“In just a short period of time, we witnessed significant growth in this market. This team is not only well-known among their customers, prospects and partners in this community but together they impressively have nearly 200 years of banking experience in this region. That’s why I’m so optimistic about the future of Liberty Bank in Western Mass.,” he added.

“The bank might be new to downtown Springfield but our team of bankers is not new to this area. We have one of the most experienced teams who have the size and scale to make commercial and business loans of all sizes and complexities while delivering swift, local decision-making and on the spot,” Tony Liberopoulos, Liberty’s Western Massachusetts Market president, said in a statement.

The Springfield office has a reception area that leads to 15 offices, eight workstations and a “hoteling” shared-desk workspace. The new office includes a large conference room with additional team collaboration areas and a complete kitchen.

Through its foundation, the bank donated $20,000 to three nonprofits in the area at the Springfield loan office’s ribbon-cutting Sept. 27: the Boys & Girls Club of West Springfield, Junior Achievement of Western Massachusetts and the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.