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WSFS plans new headquarters building

4:42 p.m., June 14, 2005--WSFS Financial Corporation has announced plans to move its Wilmington headquarter offices to the WSFS Bank Center in early 2007.

WSFS Bank Center is a newly planned 15-story office tower in Wilmington with more than 350,000 square feet of space being developed by The Buccini/Pollin Group Inc., a successful Wilmington-based real estate development firm with offices in Wilmington, Washington, D.C., Conshohocken, Pa., and New York City. The new headquarters will be prominently located in the central business district on Delaware Avenue between Jefferson and Washington Streets in Wilmington.

“Our continued strong growth over the last several years and plans for the future has led us to outgrow our current space. We are extremely pleased to be working with Buccini/Pollin on a project that is both very meaningful to us at WSFS and at the same time, contributes to Wilmington’s continued vitality,” Marvin N. Schoenhals, chairman and president of WSFS Financial Corporation, said. “We expect that all agreements will be in place over the next few weeks,” he added.

The bank targets an early 2007 move into the new building and will be a major tenant, taking 60,000 square feet, and also plans a retail banking office in the new location. WSFS will have a minority interest in the project.

Plans for the Bank’s current headquarter building, located at 838 North Market St. in Wilmington, include sale to Buccini/Pollin for its restoration and development.

“WSFS’ strong commitment to the city of Wilmington and the state of Delaware has been a key driver in the project,” Chris Buccini, partner in Buccini/Pollin, said. “In addition to office space, the WSFS Bank Center will also include 30,000 square feet of retail space and an adjacent parking lot,” he noted.

“Our decision to move the Wilmington headquarters came about following an extensive assessment of our planned growth, space needs and opportunities,” Mark A. Turner, chief operating officer of WSFS Financial Corporation, said. “WSFS’ consistent strong performance demonstrated by commercial loan growth of 27 percent per year over the past three years, 22 percent deposit growth over the past 12 months and our associate base growth of 15 percent over the past two years are some of the factors that led our management team and board of directors to determine that the timing was right to move forward with the plan,” he added.

WSFS Financial Corporation is a $2.6 billion financial services company. At March 31, 2005, its principal subsidiary, Wilmington Savings Fund Society, FSB, operated 24 retail banking offices in all three counties in Delaware, as well as Chester and Delaware Counties in Pennsylvania. Other continuing operating subsidiaries include: WSFS Investment Group, Inc., Montchanin Capital Management, Inc. and WSFS Reit, Inc. For more information, please visit the Bank’s website at [www.wsfsbank.com].

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