AUGUSTA — The Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce is honoring the Bangor Savings Bank with its President’s Award at the chamber’s annual banquet on Jan. 23.

Bangor Savings Bank’s presence in the capital has grown in the last two years from fewer than a dozen employees in a small, one-story branch in the shadow of the State House to nearly 30 employees and a three-floor office building that greets people as they enter the city from Interstate 95.

The small Capitol Street branch is still there, but the new 16,000-plus-square-foot building off Western Avenue gives the bank prominence it didn’t have before.

Molly Gerencer, manager of the Augusta branch, said the new Augusta location, with a more open concept than traditional bank branches, is set up for conversational-style personal banking, but corporate offices also are in the building.

The new Augusta branch that opened in March 2013 is the bank’s 57th location.

Peter Thompson, outgoing president and CEO of the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber selected the bank for the award because of the $4 million investment in the new facility, its work for organizations in the area and the bank’s charitable contributions to community groups.

“They’ve been a big impact in short period of time, and they’ve been huge contributors to the community,” Thompson said.

Without the bank’s investment at the former location of the Kennebec Journal offices, the plaza probably wouldn’t have developed as quickly, Thompson said.