Numerica Credit Union recently bought property on busy Court Street in Pasco with plans open a new branch.

The Spokane Valley-based credit union paid $940,000 in May for the 1,400-square-foot building at 2307 W. Court St. that serves as home to Baskin-Robbins.

Numerica plans to demolish the ice cream shop and build a new branch that will be larger than its Sylvester Street branch, between 3,000 to 4,000 square feet, said Andy Stirling, Numerica’s senior vice president of Central Washington.

He said the credit union hopes to break ground at the beginning of 2022 but is considering adding ATM machines at the Court Street property before then so members “get used to banking with us in that location,” he said.

Stirling said the Pasco property is shaped like a Tetris piece. The section that extends north-south will be for the branch office and parking and the section that’s east-west will be the ingress/egress for the ATMs.

The new building will be similar in style to Richland’s and the Southridge branch in Kennewick.

Numerica’s lease with Baskin-Robbins ends in September.

Stirling said the busy Court Street location is a great spot to serve its Pasco members.

Numerica made a commitment to its membership and board of directors to remain in the former Monad Federal Credit Union building at 1817 Sylvester St., “while we looked for something more appropriate to serve our membership out there.”

“It’s great for now but knew we needed bigger and better,” he said.

The credit union acquired the 63-year-old one-branch Monad in a merger in 2018 for $14.8 million, adding its 2,500 members. Monad was organized and chartered in 1955 by a group employed by the Northern Pacific Railway.

The Sylvester Street property isn’t conducive to an ATM, as it’s tough for traffic to get in and out of the property, Stirling said. It also isn’t ADA compliant. Six employees staff the branch.

The future of the Sylvester Street building isn’t certain. Stirling envisions using it as extra space to accommodate Numerica’s growing workforce.

The credit union grew its staff by 3% in the last two years to 576 employees at the end of 2020, up from 559 at the end of 2018.

Numerica grew by four branches in last four years and continues to keep an eye on the market.

“Numerica continues to actively look for growth opportunities in and around our footprint,” Stirling said.

Numerica’s total assets grew 33% between 2018-20 – more than $3 billion at the end of 2020, up from $2.3 billion at the end of 2018. The credit union also increased its membership by 9% – 160,000 members in 2020, up from 146,400 in 2018.

Numerica had a 106% increase in mortgage activity between 2018 and 2020, funding $371 million in home mortgage loans at the end of 2020, up from $180 million in 2018. Business loan balances increased 40% increase over the same two-year period – $845 million in 2020, up from $602 million in 2018.