EUGENE, Ore. (KMTR) -- Springfield based Northwest Community Credit Union (NWCU) says business is good and it's now looking for new headquarters and a proposal to build a new facility at the edge of downtown Eugene.
The financial institution has made an offer to the City of Eugene to buy a piece of city property at the corner of 8th Avenue and Ferry Street, near the new US Federal Courthouse building.
The nearly two-acre plot of land is mostly dirt right now, with a community garden growing on the land alongside a small building.
The City of Eugene is still weighing the proposal and NWCU isn’t saying how much money it’s offered in the deal.
If it happens, Northwest Community Credit Union would build a three- to four-story building on the site. The building would become its headquarters and its first downtown Eugene branch that it’s hoping to open by 2014.
The financial institution’s current headquarters are off Gateway Street in Springfield. NWCU says after analyzing the current building it’s determined that it cannot expand on Gateway.
"The opportunity here is to really link our branches with a hub location,” says Matt Purvis, Chief Experience Officer for NWCU.
Purvis says the location also gives NWCU a chance to better connect to the various non-profits and other community organizations with which it works.
“We're involved with a lot of community partners and community stakeholders and so part of our plan for this new facility is to leverage that, to make it more convenient for those organizations that we support and partner with to benefit the community in other ways,” says Purvis.
NWCU has about 74,000 members today and its growing around 10 percent in membership each year.
With projected growth and a new headquarters, NWCU thinks it would add about fifty jobs with the new facility.
If the 8th and Ferry proposal doesn’t work out, NWCU says it will try for other locations in the Eugene-Springfield area.
Even if NWCU’s headquarters doesn’t work out near the Federal Courthouse building, one business that is moving in to a building near there is a new brewery. Sam Bond’s Brewing LLC will open in the red Foundry Building soon. The business is related to Sam Bond’s Garage in the Whiteaker neighborhood of Eugene.
