Amid hoopla including remarks by the Nebraska governor, the $601 million SAC Federal Credit Union, the state’s largest, broke ground Tuesday on a new $20 million corporate headquarters in the Omaha suburb of Papillion.
SAC FCU also detailed plans for expansion in 2013-14, including its fourth in-store operation at an Omaha Walmart.
“We just got board approval for the Walmart branch and it goes along with two new branches we are planning in Glenwood, Iowa, and Wahoo as a result of our new expanded four-county field of membership” said Cynthia Buettner, senior vice president-marketing/sales at the 71,500-member SAC FCU.
The four-floor, 90,000-square-foot facility will house 150 employees and is expected to open in 2014.
Guests expected to speak at the groundbreaking included Gov. Dave Heineman. “We are delighted to have Gov. Heineman speak to us today since he has long been a big credit union booster and sees the Papillion area as an anchor for new business growth,” said Buettner.
Buettner said SAC FCU’s brick and mortar expansion over the next two years reflects a healthy 2012 with 12% growth and spikes in both loans and membership. Some of the surge is due to the Bank Transfer Day fallout, “the $5 Bank of America fees” plus general economic improvement, said Buettner.
The credit union marketer, who said she has been on vacation and is just catching up on the news, laughed off the Vermont commissioner flap on seeking to block “bank” and “banking” in credit union ads as “just plain silly.”
She said, however, she will be paying attention “since our motto is ‘Better Banking at SAC.’”
