Franklin Synergy Bank plans to later this year open its first retail branch in Brentwood at the site of a former Pinnacle National Bank office.

Franklin Synergy has asked regulators to take over Pinnacle's former outpost in the Merchants Walk shopping center just off Old Hickory Boulevard. The site had been a PrimeTrust office before Pinnacle acquired Mid-America Bancshares in late 2007 and was closed early this year when Pinnacle opened a new, larger office on Franklin Road.

The $285 million bank, which opened its doors in late 2007, has hired Kay Waller to lead its push into Brentwood as a senior vice president. Waller has spent most of her banking career in the city and comes to Franklin Synergy from Cadence Bank, where she was executive VP and senior lender for the past three years. Before that, she worked at Fifth Third and Franklin National Bank, which was run by Franklin Synergy CEO Richard Herrington.

"Kay is an exciting addition to our team and the ideal banker to open our Brentwood office,” said Herrington, whose team already runs its mortgage operations out of nearby Synergy Business Park. “It’s a homecoming we’ve looked forward to for some time. Fifteen years ago, she led Franklin National into Brentwood, and now she will do the same for Franklin Synergy Bank.”

Until the Merchants Walk office opens, Waller will work from Franklin Synergy's newly opened headquarters in downtown Franklin.