When Jack Feldman first stepped into his new building, it wasn’t just a case of d & #233;j & #341; vu he was having. It was more like a homecoming celebration. “It’s a good feeling to be back in the Valley,” said Feldman, president and chief executive officer of First Commerce Bank, which this week is marking a year at its new headquarters at the northeast corner of Balboa and Ventura boulevards. Feldman left the Valley in 1998 when his Bank of Los Angeles, then located in the same ground floor space in the same building, was sold to Western Bank Corp. and immediately merged with Santa Monica Bank, leaving him without a job and former local customers without a branch at which to do their banking. But only days after he left his old job, Feldman was named CEO of Brentwood Bank of California, which was struggling financially and in need of an overhaul. His new board agreed to move the bank, then one branch in Brentwood, to the San Fernando Valley and expand its business customer base. But, Feldman said, “The name Brentwood wouldn’t play well in the San Fernando Valley.” So he got his board of directors to agree to change the bank’s name. And it had to find a new place to do business. Feldman, luckily, knew a little bit about Encino commercial real estate. “We were fortunate to find that location still available,” he said of his old bank building. It wasn’t just his recent experience that informed him either. It was also his years as a chief executive with American West Bank, bought by Bank of Los Angeles in 1997, which was located at you guessed it. “We were in this same building for a long time,” said Feldman. “I didn’t think we’d be back.” So, circumstances and perhaps luck have led Feldman and one of his top executives, Gary Nudell, now vice president and chief credit officer at First Commerce, back to their old digs for a second time and their third bank. “It’s one of the most unique events in my life,” said Nudell, a longtime Valley area banker. “Coming back to the same location and being greeted by customers that we’ve known for a long time is especially gratifying.” Kenneth Wittson, a senior partner with Encino-based Greenfield & Wallace Certified Public Accountants, welcomed the bank’s return to the Valley. “Even after they left the area, we were able to continue doing business with them because we knew the kind of people Jack (Feldman) and Gary (Nudell) were,” Wittson said. “They’re just heads and shoulders above the rest of the competition.” The return of Feldman and Nudell to their old building was capped by the hiring of several former employees who had worked for years with the pair. Ricky Gelb, a director with the old Bank of Los Angeles who has since returned in the same capacity with First Commerce, said he was especially pleased to see familiar faces. “It’s like a great reunion of people that used to work there and the customers we used to have,” he said. First Commerce’s expansion into the Valley and move from Brentwood to Encino marks the bank’s turnaround since Feldman joined. The bank has moved from a net loss of $427,000 in Feldman’s first year, 1999, to $1.14 million in net income last year. Already, the company projects $1.3 million in net income on $6.3 million in projected revenue this year. Wendy Moskel, the bank’s chief operating officer, predicted a good year for the company despite a fading national economy. “All banks, large and small, are experiencing a squeeze and we’ve also experienced a drop in revenue,” she said. “It’s a challenge every day to turn a profit, and every single day that we’re keeping all our balls in the air we’re making it work.”