Carson City William St. site attracting United Federal Credit Union

A Michigan-based credit union with $1.8 billion in assets, which has a footprint in a half dozen states, is expanding Nevada operations into Carson City.

The financial institution is United Federal Credit Union (UFCU), which will break ground at 1350 E. William St. late this month with plans to open a 7,500 square foot branch there next year as a first office here.

Danny DeLaRosa, Nevada market vice president with UFCU, said Monday the credit union already does business in Carson City working with firms here from its Reno branch operations. He said a physical presence in Nevada’s capital community will mean not only the branch construction just west of Starbucks and the FedEx office on East William Street, but also employment of 10 or 11 people initially.

“Our commitment to Carson is that we’re starting with this branch, but we’re planning to have multiple branches,” he said. He explained the credit union, with headquarters in St. Joseph, Mich., has a charter that means basically if you’re in a UFCU market you can be a member and access the credit union’s individual or business services.

The credit union operates in Michigan, Nevada, Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina and Arkansas, but DeLaRosa said it also is looking at expanding into a seventh state. For competitive reasons, he was unprepared as yet to name that state.

Grading already is under way at the Carson City site where the branch office groundbreaking ceremony is set for 10 a.m. on Sept. 28. He said the branch may have a target opening date some time in May, 2016, but at least in the first half of the coming year should construction take longer than anticipated.

He said plans include hiring a branch manager, assistant branch manager, loan officers, tellers and others to serve the community. Among them could be an investment adviser, a mortgage adviser and a business services adviser.

DeLaRosa said the branch will be the credit union’s usual model, which is a state-of-the art structure that will include not only space for financial services but also a community room. He indicated expansion here and elsewhere is a continuing aspect of the credit union, which brought him to Nevada in 2012. He said since coming to the state, he has been eager to expand operations to Carson City.

The credit union, according to its website, was started in 1949 by five Whirlpool employees. It had $2 million in assets within a decade, more than doubled that in the next four years, and in 1987 became the Whirlpool Community Federal Credit Union. In the early 1990s, it was the First Resources Federal Credit Union and had $140 million in assets.

In 2006 it merged with United Federal Credit Union, operates under that name now and grew by 2010 to $1.2 billion in assets. It reached $1.5 billion by 2012 and the $1.8 billion level at the end of 2014. The credit union’s consolidated statement of financial condition showed net income of $16.3 million at the end of 2014, up from $13.4 million on Dec. 31, 2013.