State’s 3rd-largest credit union to open 3 Tri-City branches

Washington’s third-largest credit union is opening its first Tri-City location this year. And by next year, it plans to have branches in Kennewick, Richland and Pasco.

The move is a nod to the 2,300 Tri-Citians who already bank with Spokane Teachers Credit Union (STCU), said spokesman Dan Hansen.

But the member-owned nonprofit also is open to anyone who lives, works, worships or attends school in Washington or North Idaho.

Liberty Lake-based STCU announced Monday it has closed a deal for a 1.5-acre site in Kennewick.

It will build a 4,500-square-foot branch this year at 4842 W. Hildebrand Blvd., near the intersection with Highway 395. It is the first time the credit union has expanded beyond its Spokane-North Idaho base.

STCU said it will open branches in Pasco and Richland, one in 2018 and the other by 2019. Locations have not been announced. Each office will employ about six.

With 174,000 members and $2.7 billion in assets, STCU is Washington’s third-largest credit union by assets and the largest headquartered in Eastern Washington. The two largest credit unions are Boeing Employees and Washington State Employees.

The Kennewick branch will include a home loans office, drive-through and 24-hour ATM.

Spokane-based ALSC Architects is designing the branch ALSC previously designed the Sunhawk Hall student residence at Columbia Basin College in Pasco.

STCU promises to add vibrancy to the Mid-Columbia’s thriving credit union market.

HAPO Community Credit Union and GESA Credit Union, both based in Richland, are the state’s fifth- and sixth-largest credit unions by assets, $1.6 billion and $1.5 billion, respectively.

Pasco-based Monad Federal, Kennewick-based Tri-CU, Sunnyside-based Lower Valley and Spokane-based Numerica are active in the market as well.

Tri-CU, formerly Tri-Cities Community Federal, is moving to its new headquarters at Highway 395 and West 19th Avenue this fall.

This story was originally published March 19, 2018 at 6:47 PM with the headline "State’s 3rd-largest credit union to open 3 Tri-City branches."