Leader Bank plans to close its Pleasant Street location and move the bank and its staff to its new location on Leonard Street.
Leader bought the former Bank of America building at 72 Leonard St. for $2,825,000. The sale was announced Aug. 14. Its lease on Pleasant Street is ending, precipitating the planned move.
“We are excited to be doing this,” said Leader Bank President Jay Tuli. “The location of the new building is really front and center and has great visibility in Belmont.”
In the current location, near Route 2, not many people realize Leader has a Belmont presence, Tuli said.
According to Kevin Leech, marketing and leasing manager for Newman Properties, Newman bought the vacant building in 2023, with the intent of finding a new tenant. The For Sale sign came down Aug. 10, and the final sale was announced Friday.
“Newman Properties is beyond excited for the new buyers-Leader Bank- to take over and bring new life to this vibrant, downtown Belmont hub,” Leech wrote in a release.
According to Tuli, Leader has had a branch in Belmont for at least 10 years. The town, Tuli said, is part of the bank’s footprint, and there are a lot of Belmont residents who work for Leader.
“We are thrilled that this long-term vacancy will finally be filled,” Select Board Chair Taylor Yates wrote in an email. “Vacancies hurt both the streetscape and the town budget. We welcome Leader Bank and look forward to having them in Belmont Center.”
For Leonard Street, the sale is a milestone: All the storefronts are now occupied.
“I am happy we are going to have a tenant in the space. While we all would have liked a traditional brick-and-mortar store, the limits of the space made it difficult,” said Deran Muckjian, president of the Belmont Center Business Association. “The space has always been a bank, and it will remain a bank. …This is good for local businesses and the residents of Belmont.”
The only remaining open storefront on Leonard Street is the space once occupied by Red Wagon.
Tuli expects the new branch to open sometime in autumn 2027. Between now and then, the former Bank of America will undergo a complete interior renovation.
“It’s a complete gut job,” Tuli said. “It was vacant for a while, and it was a bank for a long time, so it’s very old (inside).
Tuli estimates the work will take nine to 12 months. The company is already looking at architectural plans and drawings for what the building may look like.
Founded in 2002 in Arlington, Leader now employs more than 450 people. The Leader Bank website lists 18 current locations, including the existing branch on Pleasant Street in Belmont. Two others are listed as pending.