Warsaw Bank Opens $12M Tech Hub for 100+ Employees

A 152-year-old Indiana community bank just proved you can honor tradition while racing toward the future.

Lake City Bank celebrated the ribbon cutting of its Innovation & Technology Center in downtown Warsaw this week, completing a $12 million transformation of a former CenturyLink office building. The four-story facility now houses the bank's cybersecurity, technology, and customer support teams that previously worked in separate locations across the city.

The center brings together about 100 employees who make modern banking possible. Their One Call Center fields every customer question, while tech teams ensure apps work seamlessly and networks stay protected from cyber threats. Data analysts and project managers round out the roster, all supporting 700 employees across Lake City Bank's 55-branch network.

"Technology teams are continually making sure the employees have access to applications and that our network is protected from a cybersecurity standpoint," explained Lisa O'Neill, Chief Financial Officer for Lakeland Financial Corp. and Lake City Bank. The building still has room to grow, with capacity for 130 employees as teams expand over the next five to ten years.

The facility goes beyond workstations. A lower level features a 25-person conference room, training spaces, and even a podcast studio where leaders record conversations about different roles at the bank. These podcasts help employees across the organization understand what their colleagues do and connect with leadership.

The Ripple Effect

Lake City Bank's approach shows how regional banks can compete in the digital age without losing their soul. While tech giants build massive campuses, this $7 billion institution invested in Warsaw, the community it has served since 1872.

The bank isn't choosing between human touch and digital convenience. Branch employees still greet customers by name, but those same customers can also bank at midnight from their phones thanks to the teams in this building. It's a both-and strategy that reflects how most people actually want to do business.

The center even opens its doors to the community. Local groups can book meeting spaces in the building, turning what could have been a closed-off corporate facility into a shared resource. Warsaw gets modern jobs, community meeting space, and proof that hometown institutions can lead in innovation.

The building Lake City Bank purchased in 2024 sat empty after CenturyLink moved out, a familiar story in downtowns across America. Now it buzzes with activity, housing careers in cybersecurity and data analytics that didn't exist when the structure first opened in 1968.

Community banks investing in their hometowns create the kind of progress that lasts.