M&T Bank growth causes Downtown Buffalo expansion

It has been a good year for M&T Bank, if you ask M&T Bank Senior Vice President of Corporate  Services, Keith Belanger. According to Belanger, the Buffalo based bank has been booming.

Over the last four years the bank has hired at least 1,900 people to it's non-branch facilities in Western New York. Many the employees were hired into the technology area. Some employees were contractors that were brought on to support individuals with technology projects.

The steady growth has even caused M&T to invest $100 million in expanding the density of four floors in expanding inside it's Downtown Buffalo facilities. Construction crews are working to add several hundred seats in the M&T Center in Buffalo.

"You know we've had this long track record of growth," Belanger said.

The expansion isn't real obvious from the outside. But crews are hard at work making room for potential new employees. The growth could even create parking issues as the company grows.

"It's one of those good problems to have for the community," Belanger said.

Thomas Kucharski, President & CEO of Invest Buffalo Niagara said businesses are realizing Downtown Buffalo has a hidden treasure of opportunities and it's good for the local economy.

"Key investments like M&T is very important to sticking the flag in the ground. In this case the green flag. It says, hey, we're here for the long hall and we want to be part of this," Kucharski said.

M&T Bank officials say part of their growth is because of the First Niagara-Key Bank merger. A lot of customers simply want a bank that is based here in Western New York.