First Financial moving HQ to Norwood

First Financial Bancorp will move its base from Hamilton to the Cornerstone at Norwood building near Rookwood Commons.
The bank already has several people at the location, which it opened in early 2006 as the base for its Cincinnati operations. The Hamilton bank hadn't made a significant push into Cincinnati and Hamilton County until then.
"This will allow us to get our core group together at one headquarters," CEO Claude Davis said. "People are spread out now."
First Financial (NASDAQ: FFBC) has most of its top executives at its Hamilton base, but others are in a Union Centre office in West Chester and at the Rookwood site.
The Rookwood location, located in Norwood near its border with Cincinnati, has fewer than 50 people now, but it will house 75 First Financial employees once the headquarters move is completed. That's expected by the end of the first quarter of 2008.
The move won't necessarily be permanent. The 25,000 square feet First Financial is leasing at Cornerstone can house up to 80 to 85 people. So as First Financial grows, it will need additional space. It will keep evaluating whether to eventually expand further at Cornerstone or relocate again, Davis said. That decision will likely be reached in the next two to three years.
The move also fits with First Financial's focus in recent years on growing in metropolitan areas. It's now aiming to grow in metro areas such as Cincinnati, Dayton, Northern Kentucky and the Indiana suburbs near Chicago.
Still, Davis said, First Financial isn't bailing out on Hamilton. Its bank subsidiary, First Financial Bank, will stay based in Hamilton. And the bank is renovating its Hamilton facility.
"Butler County is still our largest market," Davis said.
credited by: bizjournals.com