Dime Community Bank first opened in Brooklyn on June 1, 1864. Founded by William Grandy, Dime was established as a mutual savings bank serving the growing immigrant and low-income populations in the area. When the Brooklyn Bridge was completed in 1883, the bank made a name for itself helping anchor the neighborhood’s housing market with competitive home loans and fair terms. Dime weathered a series of economic ups and downs as conditions in Williamsburg changed, finally incorporating and becoming a publicly traded company on June 26, 1996. At the same time, Dime acquired Conestoga Bancorp, Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Pioneer Savings Bank, making it the first simultaneous IPO/acquisition of its kind in the nation. In 1999, Dime acquired Financial Bancorp, Inc. for $74 million.
Business
Dime Community Bank operates 28 branches throughout the New York metropolitan area in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Nassau. The current President and CEO is Kenneth J. Mahon. Fourteen presidents have led Dime Community Bank, two of them for nearly 30 years each. Dime often promotes from inside the organization. The bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dime Community Bancshares, Inc., a publicly owned company. Dime Community Bancshares posted $6 billion in consolidated assets as of March 1, 2020. Dime finished among the top 5 on the S&P Global Market Intelligence thrift ranking for 9 consecutive years, from 2009 to 2017. In 2017, Dime began to shift their focus to commercial and business banking. In August 2017, Dime announced they had been approved as a Small Business Administration lender. The CEO, Kenneth J. Mahon, said, “the launch of our SBA lending program continues the expansion of our Business Banking division...We recognize that small businesses and entrepreneurs are important to the economic vibrancy of the communities we serve.”
Notable buildings
Dime Community Bank’s first location was in the basement of the First National Bank Building at the base of the Williamsburg Bridge, where it opened on June 1, 1864. Operating from there until 1908, Dime officially purchased the entire historic building. Having outgrown the First National Bank building, Dime moved its headquarters to a new development in the Williamsburg Bridge Plazaon the corner of Havemeyer and South 5th Street. On January 16, 2017, Dime moved to its current headquarters at 300 Cadman Plaza West, Brooklyn, NY. The Havemeyer Street building at 209 Havemeyer Street, or 257 South 5th Street, was designated a New York City landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on March 27, 2018. The building was constructed in 1906-08, and was designed in the Neoclassical style by the firm of Helmle & Huberty.
