For the first time in its nearly 60-year history, the USF Federal Credit Union (FCU) is venturing off campus to open a new branch in New Tampa.
On August 29, USF president and New Tampa resident Judy Genshaft, USF FCU President and CEO Rick Skaggs, Tampa City Council chair (and USF grad) Mike Suarez and a number of other school dignitaries stuck ceremonial shovels into a pile of dirt during a ground-breaking ceremony at the northwest corner of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) and Imperial Oak Blvd., in the Trout Creek area near Winn-Dixie.
“It’s a fabulous location, and we know that the population is growing soooo fast in this area of our region and of our state,’’ Genshaft told the crowd. “(The branch) is modeled after the Marshall Center (branch) that has been fabulous and so well-received.”
The first-ever standalone off-campus branch of the USF Federal Credit Union, which boasts 52,000 members, which will be located in front of the plaza that houses Winn Dixie and LA Fitness and across Imperial Oak Blvd. from Burger King, is expected to open in mid-2017.
“It’s the first off-campus building of the credit union,’’ said Skaggs. “We’ve had other offices (off campus), but this is the first one that will be a standalone facility, so it’s a big day in our history.”
USF Building Bigger, Better
The new credit union will go up just a few hundred yards from its current location in the same plaza.
The impetus for acquiring the land to build the two-story, 12,300-sq.-ft. credit union, in fact, is due in part to the success of that New Tampa office, Skaggs said, as well as the knowledge that this area is home to many USF grads and employees.
“We have a lot of faculty and staff that live in this area as well, and going back from here to the university might as well be like going to St. Petersburg, so this is going to be a nice hub for us,’’ Skaggs said.
He noted that there have been numerous studies done on the membership base located in New Tampa, and those studies also reveal that many graduates settle in the area after attending USF and would like to remain members. Suarez, for example, said at the groundbreaking that he still has the same account he started 30 years ago when he was a USF student.
New USF FCU, New Offerings
The new facility will allow the credit union to expand the services offered at other off-campus locations, like in mortgage lending and wealth management. There will be a large community room available for meetings and functions, Skaggs said, equipped with a large TV for presentations and multi-media capabilities.
There also will be drive-through tellers and “universal service reps,” who according to Skaggs, are like bank tellers of the future. Since many patrons use electronic banking and don’t bother with the brick and mortar building for simple tasks like deposits and withdrawals anymore, universal service reps will be equipped to handle not only traditional teller duties, but also all of the other services offered by the credit union.
“The concept is like an Apple Store,’’ Skaggs said. “In the Marshall Center, the design we put in there has been very well-received. The open architecture feel, as well as all the electronic services, remote access, all of it, will be a totally different environment than a regular bank or credit union drive-through.”
USF FCU Highly Regarded
In July, the USF FCU, which was chartered in 1959 for the staff and faculty and began serving students in 1990, was named as the 2016 Credit Union of the Year by the League of Southeastern Credit Unions & Affiliates (LSCU) in the “$500 Million in Assets or Above” category.
Its merger with Darden Employees Federal Credit Union, the renovation of the Marshall Student Center Branch and the executive internship program, which allows students to work at the Marshall Center location and earn college credit, were cited in earning the award.
Skaggs said USF FCU has more than $500 million in assets, 135 employees and lends in excess of $100 million per year.
For more info, visit USFFCU.org or call 569-2000.