Northwestern Bank broke ground recently on construction of an office at Hansen Plaza on W. Fourth St. in Suttons Bay.

The project is scheduled for completion later this year, and bank officials said it stands to be the first LEED® certified commercial building in Leelanau County and one of the first few in northern Michigan.

The bank's downtown Suttons Bay office will remain open, expanding Northwestern’s presence in Leelanau County to three locations: two in Suttons Bay and one in Leland. The new office will offer two drive-thru banking lanes and a drive-up ATM

Northwestern Bank’s pursuit of LEED certification is part of a larger environmental and energy sustainability initiative, said Kent Nordin, area manager for Leelanau County. “We are now committed to finding ways to be good stewards of the environment — everything from the paper on which we print our brochures, to the materials we use to build our offices,” said Nordin.

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), a third-party certification program through the U.S. Green Building Council, is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.

Northwestern Bank was chartered in 1955, has 26 offices and is the largest independent community bank in northern Michigan.

For more information, visit www.nwbank.com or call 271-5993.