Management Group Buys Minority Bank

One of this city's few banks owned by African-Americans has been sold, but it remains minority-owned.

Community Bank of Lawndale recently was bought by a newly formed holding company headed by some of the bank's managers and directors.

Sable Bancshares bought all the bank's common stock from Pyramidwest Development Corp.

"The old holding company was more interested in real estate development and wanted to divest itself of banking," said Diane Glenn, who joined the bank in 1985 and has been its president since 1993.

She also is vice president of Sable Bancshares, which was created to buy the $40 million-asset bank on Chicago's West Side. The holding company's chairman and CEO is Michael Brown, a lawyer who also is the bank's chairman.

Ms. Glenn said the bank's focus would change under the new ownership. "I think we'll probably get a little more involved in community development activities," she said.

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