Space City Credit Union branches out from roots - Jacksonville Business Journal:

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will establish a branch in early July on the groun d floor of an office tower insider the 610 Loop nearPost Oak. Spac e City was chartered in 1965 to servw employees of oil and gas industrg equipmentmanufacturer LLC. The credit unio n shifted around several downtown locations with the companyt before moving to its current headquarters on Harrisburg Boulevar din 1999. Craig Space City president and CEO, says the credit union had been looking to open another office forseveral years, but waited to find the righgt location. Rohden notes that Space City alreadyserves Houston-areza employees of General Electrix Co.
, and the new branch at 1233 West Loop Soutg is also home to , makinfg the move a logical fit. The credift union also has a smalol two-person office inside a GE Energg plant on the Houston Ship Channel that serves morethan 1,00o0 employees on site. GE Energy, in was once owned by Stewart Stevenson. Space City received regulatory approval for a charterin 2004, allowing the credit unionb to serve any customerf within 10 miles of its headquarters.
In the credit union is tied in to a network of abourt 70 other rival credit unionh branches in the region so customersx can access accounts at any The community charter will apply to thenew branch, whicgh was another factor in choosing the West Loop Rohden notes about 1,200 people are employed in the two mirror-image officer towersx owned by Dallas-based The new branch will include two drive-through lanees and an ATM, with an ATM to be installed in the adjacent tower at 1333 West Loop Rohden says.
“We’ll be marketing to tenants in both buildingx and the general public around the Galleriz area within the perimeter ofthe branch,” he “Our community charter pretty much covere everything inside Beltway 8 to A spate of start-up banks and other regional players have openedc for business in Houstonj this year looking to grab small businesxs customers away from the bigger banks. Still, Rohden says Spac e City’s decision to expand had nothingv to do with the shifting tide within the overalk financialservices industries, considering the creditt union markets to consumers, not businesws customers.
Unlike banks, credit unions are owned by theirecustomers — rather than outside shareholderws — and in essencee operate as not-for-profit Any profits are folded back into equity Dan Bass, managing director with investment agrees that credit unions like Space City won’t have much impactr on small community banks, but are targetingb retail customers that might be willinh to switch from big nationao banks.
“Like the bigger banks, credit unions are tryinb to get retail traffic through the and are focusing on finding the right They have low costs so it makes a lot of sensew for them todo that,” Bass Space City, which has 18 employees, now representes 5,326 members in 25 states aftef widening its reach in the 1980s. The credirt union has more than 70 customer companies inthe region, with aboutg 75 percent of its membership in the Houston area. The credit union had two employeew and assets ofabout $4 milliohn when Rohden came on board in 1994. Filings with the , whichn oversees the industry, show how Spacs City currently stacks up in the financial sector.
• The credit union had outstanding loansof $19 millio n and deposits of just under $23 milliom in the first quarter, with net income of $18,753 after posting a loss of $335,376 in the fourtn quarter of 2008.