The City of Sarasota commission has approved a lease agreement that will a First Home Bank to Sarasota’s Newtown community. Under the terms of the agreement, the St. Petersburg-based bank will lease a city-owned property at 1782 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way. The building formerly housed the Newtown Economic Redevelopment Office, which recently relocated to City Hall. The Sarasota Police Department will continue to operate a sub-station in a portion of the building.

The new bank will serve as a loan production office and financial resource center, the first of its kind in the Newtown community. It will provide personal and commercial loans as well as financial education, programs and additional resources to community members and business owners. It will also feature a no-fee ATM, providing customers free access to their funds. The bank is on track to open in early 2022, following renovations.

First Home has already begun hiring, including tapping longtime Sarasota resident and former NFL player Carlos Yancy as business development specialist and a member of the bank's Providing Equal Access to Credit Envoy (PEACE) team, a group of residential mortgage experts dedicated to combating inequality and better serving the needs of minority and low-to-moderate income borrowers in every phase of the homebuying process.