Call Federal Credit Union is opening a new branch in a Chesterfield shopping center. Photo by Michael Schwartz.
One of the first steps in a local credit union’s regional growth plan is underway in Chesterfield County.
Call Federal Credit Union has leased space for a new branch in the Hancock Village shopping center off Hull Street Road in Chesterfield County.
It will be the fifth location for Call FCU and its first new outpost since it received approval from its federal regulator last year to offer membership to the entire Richmond metro area.
With that community charter in hand, CEO Roger Ball said Call has a strategy to gradually increase its presence around the market with a combination of traditional branches and a new style of retail location.
“That’s a wide range of territory,” Ball said of the ground the credit union can now cover. “We need strategic locations. We’ve said we need to take one area a time and be accessible, convenient and known. Once we feel that we have penetrated a particular area, we’ll go to another area.”
Roger Ball
The new 2,500-square-foot storefront at 7217 Hancock Village Drive will be Call FCU’s first foray into a new design, which, among other features, will eliminate traditional teller lines in favor of kiosks, following a trend that seems to be gaining steam in the banking industry.
“It’s more retail and less transactional,” said Ball, who’s been CEO at Call for 24 years. “It’s being designed to be very reflective of an environment that creates opportunity to have one-on-one dialogue with members and potential members.”
Call currently has 30,000 members and $370 million in total assets and is growing at a rate of 1,500 new members per year. Its community charter allows it to offer membership to the 16 localities considered part of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area.
For his company’s long-term expansion, Ball envisions a wheel-and-spoke structure for the credit union – with a traditional branch as the center of the wheel and retail locations, like the new Hancock Village store, as the spokes. That plan would aim for one new branch per year for at least five years.
In Chesterfield, for example, Ball said the credit union will look for more growth in the Route 60 and Route 10 corridors.
“Then we could probably move on to Hanover, Henrico and find that pocket that we feel we can penetrate,” he said.
The plans for the new branch call for self-service kiosks, space for a traditional teller, meeting areas and a tech space. Rendering courtesy of Call FCU.
Construction on the space at Hancock Village hasn’t yet begun. Call FCU has finished the design and plans to submit its construction documents to Chesterfield County later this month.
It will look to open the new location around October, Ball said.
Call spokeswoman Kristen Binette Ramos said the company will fund the initial construction costs for the Hancock branch, with a predetermined reimbursement from the landlord due upon completion.
It has hired RGI as its general contractor. Baskervill is its architect and construction consultant.
Its immediate neighbors in Hancock Village are a Qdoba restaurant and retailer Penelope.
Broker Ellen Long of Taylor Long Properties, which handles leasing at Hancock Village, said Call’s lease fills the last of the remaining vacant spaces at the shopping center’s smaller strip storefronts.
The shopping center is anchored by Walmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Hobby Lobby and Five Below and still has some undeveloped pieces.
Long said her office is negotiating with a tenant for the last unbuilt pad between a Longhorn Steakhouse and McDonald’s and is working on preleasing for more space that will be built between Walmart and Five Below.
The bulk of the developed portions of the shopping center were purchased by an out-of-town REIT in 2013. The newer and undeveloped pieces are owned by its original developer, Edco LLC.
In other local credit union news, Virginia Credit Union, the largest of its local peers, finalized a deal last week to absorb Charlottesville-based Sperry Marine FCU.
Virginia Credit Union has also been dealing with an ATM card skimming scam at some of its locations.
Call Federal Credit Union is opening a new branch in a Chesterfield shopping center. Photo by Michael Schwartz.
One of the first steps in a local credit union’s regional growth plan is underway in Chesterfield County.
Call Federal Credit Union has leased space for a new branch in the Hancock Village shopping center off Hull Street Road in Chesterfield County.
It will be the fifth location for Call FCU and its first new outpost since it received approval from its federal regulator last year to offer membership to the entire Richmond metro area.
With that community charter in hand, CEO Roger Ball said Call has a strategy to gradually increase its presence around the market with a combination of traditional branches and a new style of retail location.
“That’s a wide range of territory,” Ball said of the ground the credit union can now cover. “We need strategic locations. We’ve said we need to take one area a time and be accessible, convenient and known. Once we feel that we have penetrated a particular area, we’ll go to another area.”
Roger Ball
The new 2,500-square-foot storefront at 7217 Hancock Village Drive will be Call FCU’s first foray into a new design, which, among other features, will eliminate traditional teller lines in favor of kiosks, following a trend that seems to be gaining steam in the banking industry.
“It’s more retail and less transactional,” said Ball, who’s been CEO at Call for 24 years. “It’s being designed to be very reflective of an environment that creates opportunity to have one-on-one dialogue with members and potential members.”
Call currently has 30,000 members and $370 million in total assets and is growing at a rate of 1,500 new members per year. Its community charter allows it to offer membership to the 16 localities considered part of the Richmond Metropolitan Statistical Area.
For his company’s long-term expansion, Ball envisions a wheel-and-spoke structure for the credit union – with a traditional branch as the center of the wheel and retail locations, like the new Hancock Village store, as the spokes. That plan would aim for one new branch per year for at least five years.
In Chesterfield, for example, Ball said the credit union will look for more growth in the Route 60 and Route 10 corridors.
“Then we could probably move on to Hanover, Henrico and find that pocket that we feel we can penetrate,” he said.
The plans for the new branch call for self-service kiosks, space for a traditional teller, meeting areas and a tech space. Rendering courtesy of Call FCU.
Construction on the space at Hancock Village hasn’t yet begun. Call FCU has finished the design and plans to submit its construction documents to Chesterfield County later this month.
It will look to open the new location around October, Ball said.
Call spokeswoman Kristen Binette Ramos said the company will fund the initial construction costs for the Hancock branch, with a predetermined reimbursement from the landlord due upon completion.
It has hired RGI as its general contractor. Baskervill is its architect and construction consultant.
Its immediate neighbors in Hancock Village are a Qdoba restaurant and retailer Penelope.
Broker Ellen Long of Taylor Long Properties, which handles leasing at Hancock Village, said Call’s lease fills the last of the remaining vacant spaces at the shopping center’s smaller strip storefronts.
The shopping center is anchored by Walmart, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Hobby Lobby and Five Below and still has some undeveloped pieces.
Long said her office is negotiating with a tenant for the last unbuilt pad between a Longhorn Steakhouse and McDonald’s and is working on preleasing for more space that will be built between Walmart and Five Below.
The bulk of the developed portions of the shopping center were purchased by an out-of-town REIT in 2013. The newer and undeveloped pieces are owned by its original developer, Edco LLC.
In other local credit union news, Virginia Credit Union, the largest of its local peers, finalized a deal last week to absorb Charlottesville-based Sperry Marine FCU.
Virginia Credit Union has also been dealing with an ATM card skimming scam at some of its locations.