OSHTEMO TOWNSHIP — Years of sustained growth has Advia Credit Union planning to develop a new corporate office.
The proposed 150,000-square-foot headquarters planned for a 40-acre site in Oshtemo Township will house 175 to 200 executives and administrative staff and provide space to accommodate the credit union’s future growth.
Advia has outgrown its present 24,000-square-foot home in Parchment, located just north of Kalamazoo where it has been based for generations. The credit union has roots that go back to 1938 when it was formed to serve employees of the area’s paper mill industry.
Moving to larger new offices in Oshtemo Township on the other side of town would geographically position the headquarters in a highly visible location and allow Advia to bring together in a single location the administrative staffers who now work at branches in the area.
“We’re growing at a pace that basically has outpaced the demands of our current building,” said Nancy Loftis, Advia Credit Union’s vice president of marketing. “This is going to give us a nice presentation to the Kalamazoo area as well as show Advia’s commitment to growth.”
The new headquarters at 6404 W. Main St. in Oshtemo Township, west of U.S. 131, will include a branch, first-floor retail space and a community room to host civic, recreational, cultural and educational events. Advia Credit Union recently secured local zoning approval for the project and is working on a final site plan that also requires township approval.
A timeline for construction and occupancy of the new headquarters, which was designed by Byce & Associates Inc. in Kalamazoo, has not yet been set.
The credit union intends to maintain a branch office in Parchment after moving to the new office.
“We have a significant number of families and business that we serve in that area and we’re committed to still being there for them,” Loftis said.
Advia has 18 offices in Michigan and 10 in northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin, where the credit union closed Sept. 1 on the acquisition of Peoples Bank, a community bank with four offices and assets of $230 million. The credit union previously acquired Mid America Bank in southern Wisconsin in 2016.
As of June 30, Advia Credit Union reported $1.43 billion in assets, up nearly 19 percent from a year earlier, plus $1.19 billion in deposits and 134,880 members, according to a quarterly financial report filed with federal regulators. The credit union added about 9,500 members last month with the Peoples Bank acquisition.
Advia also said it issued $120.7 million in member business loans and recorded midyear net income of $6.3 million.
By comparison Advia, which was previously known as First Community Federal Credit Union, reported assets of $276.2 million prior to its January 2014 name change and merger with E&A Credit Union in Port Huron, which had assets of about $700 million. Advia subsequently merged with the former Southwest Michigan Federal that had about 4,500 members and $69.7 million in assets.
As of midyear, Advia was the ninth-largest credit union based in Michigan.
