Tweeter Center to become Susquehanna Bank Center

The Tweeter Center on the Camden waterfront is being renamed the Susquehanna Bank Center under a $10 million deal announced today.

The concert venue will take its name from Susquehanna Banchares Inc., a Lititz, Pa., bank holding company that recently opened a regional headquarters along the Delaware River in Camden. The naming-rights contract is for an initial period of five years and is renewable for two five-year terms. Over the 15 years, the value would be $10 million.

Susquehanna has about 50 branches in the Philadelphia region from South Jersey up through the Lehigh Valley, accounting for about 25 percent of the company's assets.

About half of the bank's $13 billion in assets are in central Pennsylvania, and an additional 25 percent are in Maryland.

Buying naming rights for the Camden venue, which attracts people from much of Susquehanna's footprint, is a "statement on our part that we want to be a bigger player in these marketplaces," William J. Reuter, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Susquehanna Bank, said in an interview today.

Tweeter Home Entertainment Group Inc., of Canton, Mass., filed for bankruptcy protection in June. Tweeter bought the naming rights for the Camden center for an undisclosed amount in 2001. The contract was supposed to expire in 2011.