The location shares management staff with the Salina Street branch. First Niagara opened a mortgage processing center at the Washington Street building in December. The center, which employs 25 people, will remain in place after the branch closure, Hays said. The Salina Street location is in the same building as First Niagara's Syracuse regional market center, home to several of the bank's local sales groups. The branch there also offers features not available at the Washington Street site, including free parking and a drive-through window. Those features are the main reason for the move, Hays said. The two branches are about a quarter mile apart. The closure is not part of any broader effort to trim the bank's footprint, Hays added. Buffalo-based First Niagara has 430 branches in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Massachusetts. The Washington Street location was previously occupied by HSBC. First Niagara acquired it in 2012 as part of a deal for 195 HSBC branches throughout Upstate New York.