Meet Bank of Estes Park - Niwot Branch

One might think the Bank of Estes Park is only located in the resort community 35 miles up Highway 7 from Niwot. But the bank also serves the Niwot community, with one of its three branches located at 7980 Niwot Road, attached to the Niwot Market in Cottonwood Square Shopping Center.

"Bank of Estes Park is a local community bank that started up in 1965 in Estes Park, and they opened up a second branch in Estes Park," said Vice-President and Branch Manager Terry Gushiken.

"Over time, they started getting more clients from the Boulder Valley area and they decided to add a third branch in Niwot. This branch in Niwot has been around for 29 years."

"We're a full service bank so we do everything from standard accounts, consumer and commercial accounts, and any type of lending," Gushiken continued. "As far as commercial, we do a lot of construction loans. We provide lot loans, commercial lending, bridge loans, auto loans, inventory loans, equipment loans, business expansion/acquisition loans, debt consolidation, and traditional mortgage products."

Many of the bank's customers are residents looking to build a home. "We do a lot of construction," Gushiken said. "We've had lots of clients who want to buy an empty plot of land to build their dream home. We help our clients out with lot loans and construction loans. When construction is complete we look at permanent financing."

In addition to serving homeowners and other clients, the Bank of Estes Park is also a Gold Member of the Niwot Business Association (NBA). The bank sponsors the Rotary Clubs in both Niwot and Estes Park, the realtors' community in Estes Park, and other local organizations and events. The bank also sponsors the Courier's Student-Athlete of the Week feature.

"One thing that I really like about working for the Bank of Estes Park is that I've been in the financial industry for over 28 years, and I've worked with numerous financial institutions, [and] being that we're a smaller and local bank, we don't have any specific guidelines that we're stuck with," Gushiken said.

"On the lending side, some banks will be like, 'Oh, well, they have to have this credit score or they have to meet this criteria, and if the clients don't meet it, then it's just an automatic denial.' The Bank of Estes Park doesn't specifically have those guidelines, so we can really tailor to our needs and look at the full financial picture. Because of that, it's been really beneficial to our clients. It's also great for young people, because we can help them through every process to help them achieve their financial goals."

Gushiken took over the branch manager position from long-time branch manager Wanda Fisher, who retired in July 2021. "I really enjoy this branch," Gushiken said. " I've worked at a lot of smaller locations. I've worked in some large financial offices as well. I think the location here is great and the people are amazing. I feel blessed to work with the people that I work with."