Penny Duane

We had 3,600 square feet on the 12th floor. No one even knew we existed,” says Penny Duane with a laugh. The vice president and branch manager of City National Bank’s Downtown office is talking about the company’s previous office in the Symphony Towers building on B Street.

Today, Duane and her six-member staff are enjoying better visibility and stretching their legs in a 5,500-square-foot ground-floor office in The Irvine Co.’s glass and marble office tower at 501 W. Broadway. The new office opened in September.

City National signed a 10-year lease with The Irvine Co. for the space. It has three teller windows, an ATM, night depository and subterranean reserved and validated parking for clients. The décor includes travertine floors, maple furniture, plasma televisions tuned to cable business channels and customized glass.

Duane and her staff offer a range of financial services, including commercial, private, business trust and investment, international banking and cash management. The bank also has started selling foreign currency, including Mexican pesos, euros, British pounds and Japanese yen. “We’re located so close to the cruise ship terminal that providing foreign currency to our clients is a value-added service they can truly appreciate,” Duane says.

Duane has been with City National since September 2005. “Before that I worked at every bank in town,” she says, ticking off a number of them — Wells Fargo, Washington Mutual, Great Western, US Bank — “you name it.” She spent four-and-a-half years at US Bank as a vice president and branch manager in Mission Hills before joining City National. She graduated from San Diego State in 1987 and holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

City National, a “business bank,” opened its first office in the county in 1979. It has two other offices in the county in Carlsbad and La Jolla.

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Kelly Capital, another Downtown financial institution, is getting ready to move into new quarters this month. The company is leaving the 10th floor of the 550 Corporate Center on C Street for the 18th floor of the NBC Building at 225 Broadway. Johnson & Jennings General Contracting was hired for tenant improvements of the entire floor. The work in the 13,901-square-foot space includes buildout of a break room, lounge area and conference rooms, a new reception desk, custom wood and glass wall panels, glazing, Italian tile flooring and custom carpet. Project manager for Johnson & Jennings is Carrie Chambers. Kevin Alexen is onsite superintendent. Subcontractors are Re:Source Floors, Caldwell Glass, Martin Drywall, Bergelectric, ACCO, Quality Paint & Wallcovering and Schmidt Insulation.

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Grah Safe & Lock, a Downtown fixture for 92 years, has followed the venerable San Diego Hardware out of the area. The company moved from its leased quarters on Fourth Avenue to 939 University Ave. in Hillcrest. Owner Glenn Younger was forced to move when the building he had been in was sold for a redevelopment project. Months before, San Diego Hardware moved to Kearny Mesa.

The Downtown Relocations column features news on firms that are abandoning, embracing or expanding in the 92101 ZIP code. Send submissions to Manny Cruz, manny@sandiegometro.com.