Goldenwest Credit Union to expand with offices in Washington Terrace

Dec. 13--WASHINGTON TERRACE -- Goldenwest Credit Union has announced it will soon have a presence here.

The institution recently announced plans to expand its corporate campus by purchasing a second facility -- a currently vacated building that originally housed the Family Fresh Foods grocery store, at 5167 South Adams Ave.

"We now have 26 branches from Logan to St. George," said Diana Windley, Goldenwest Credit Union vice president for marketing.

"As branches and members expand ... it is only natural that we are going to have to expand our corporate offices and our support departments so we can support our members and our 26 branches."

Windley said Goldenwest will start renovations to the building, which will become known as Goldenwest Building 2, in 2014.

Already, she said mechanical engineers and architects have been studying the building.

She said eventually, up to 175 employees will be housed in the new facility.

Windley listed employees in support services, operations, accounting, information technology, call center and training as those who will work in the new facility.

"As we are growing, our existing facility is getting pretty cramped," she said. "We're just basically expanding out. We will have a (corporate) campus with two buildings."

The existing Goldenwest corporate office, located about one block north at 5025 South Adams Avenue in South Ogden, will continue to house the credit union's member-facing platforms including a retail branch, mortgage lending, commercial services and insurance, officials said.

City officials said they were glad to have Goldenwest.

"Our economic development plan includes finding reputable business partners that share similar values as our citizens," said City Manager Tom Hanson in a press release. "Goldenwest fits our business-partner model as a respected organization with a commitment to enhancing our community and bringing jobs with sustainable wages."

Goldenwest Credit Union was founded in 1936 in Ogden.

In the year 2000, Goldenwest moved its corporate headquarters from downtown Ogden to the building on Adams Avenue in South Ogden.

Since that time, Goldenwest has tripled in both asset size and membership, more than doubled the number of branch locations, and expanded its product line of mortgage, commercial and insurance services, said a credit union press release.

The 77-year-old credit union recently exceeded $1 billion in assets for the first time, in-part due to a merger with Logan-based USU Credit Union, the release said.

"We believe that keeping our corporate campus in the South Ogden-Washington Terrace vicinity will allow us to expand our infrastructure in a cost effective manner that is suitable to both our employees and members," said Bill Hart, Goldenwest chairman of the board.

Goldenwest Credit Union was founded in 1936 in Ogden.

The credit union serves more than 97,000 members throughout Utah with offices in Weber, Morgan, Davis, Salt Lake, Utah, Box Elder, Cache and Washington counties.

Contact reporter JaNae Francis at 801-625-4228 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @jfrancis.

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