Rejected by banks, a Washington-based medical practice made ahuge step forward toward opening a 36,000-square foot officebuilding thanks to Commercial Lending Solutions, a Chetco FederalCredit Union-owned CUSO.

Yelm Medical Office Building LLC broke ground April 3 on themulti-million dollar facility that will relocate a family practiceof seven doctors to a larger space. Scott Ritter, manager of YMOB,said he and his partners went to many financial institutions butwere either turned down because of the amount of the fund requestor they weren't interested in construction lending.

"Then we met with the team at CLS. They got on board with us andwhen they described the concept of bringing money together throughseveral credit unions to fund a project of this size we were veryintrigued," Ritter said.