The credit union was founded in 1934. (Courtesy Credit Union of Colorado)
The Credit Union of Colorado is upgrading its status in southeast Denver.
The credit union purchased an 0.8-acre property near the intersection of Hampden Avenue and Yosemite Street last month for $800,000, according to public records.
The seller, Comfort Dental, operated a dentist’s office there.
The deal works out to $23 a square foot for the 3488 S. Willow St. lot. The credit union plans to scrape and redevelop the site into a new branch, replacing an existing one about 2.5 miles away at 7541 E. Iliff Ave. The credit union has leased that strip mall unit for more than two decades.
Chad Bollinger, chief financial officer for the Credit Union of Colorado, said the approximately 2,000-square-foot branch will cost between $3 million and $4 million and be “much more modern than what we have currently at our Iliff location,” which has no drive-thru ATM.
The credit union hopes to move in 2026, Bollinger said. It has 19 locations across the state.
It will be the fourth recent ground-up development for the credit union, which has completed projects in Cañon City and Colorado Springs. Its largest project was in Denver’s Central Park neighborhood, where it built a new headquarters after leaving its old offices in Cap Hill.
The credit union wants to help other businesses get new real estate, too. It launched its own commercial real estate lending program about a year and a half ago, according to Chad Wilcox, senior vice president of lending.
Last year, it lent $3 million for that purpose, a drop in the bucket compared to the $400 million it lent in total.
“We’re doing a crawl-walk-run scenario — our sweet spot is a $5 million or smaller transaction,” Wilcox said. “We’re not yet in the position to do some of those large, large development dollars that are out there.”
The Credit Union of Colorado had $2.24 billion in deposits at the end of 2024. It saw a 6% increase ($127 million) in deposits overall last year.
“We really want to help businesses that are in our own backyard. … We’re not out there trying to maximize profits or maximizing returns,” Wilcox said. “It’s really about building relationships.”
The credit union was founded in 1934. (Courtesy Credit Union of Colorado)
The Credit Union of Colorado is upgrading its status in southeast Denver.
The credit union purchased an 0.8-acre property near the intersection of Hampden Avenue and Yosemite Street last month for $800,000, according to public records.
The seller, Comfort Dental, operated a dentist’s office there.
The deal works out to $23 a square foot for the 3488 S. Willow St. lot. The credit union plans to scrape and redevelop the site into a new branch, replacing an existing one about 2.5 miles away at 7541 E. Iliff Ave. The credit union has leased that strip mall unit for more than two decades.
Chad Bollinger, chief financial officer for the Credit Union of Colorado, said the approximately 2,000-square-foot branch will cost between $3 million and $4 million and be “much more modern than what we have currently at our Iliff location,” which has no drive-thru ATM.
The credit union hopes to move in 2026, Bollinger said. It has 19 locations across the state.
It will be the fourth recent ground-up development for the credit union, which has completed projects in Cañon City and Colorado Springs. Its largest project was in Denver’s Central Park neighborhood, where it built a new headquarters after leaving its old offices in Cap Hill.
The credit union wants to help other businesses get new real estate, too. It launched its own commercial real estate lending program about a year and a half ago, according to Chad Wilcox, senior vice president of lending.
Last year, it lent $3 million for that purpose, a drop in the bucket compared to the $400 million it lent in total.
“We’re doing a crawl-walk-run scenario — our sweet spot is a $5 million or smaller transaction,” Wilcox said. “We’re not yet in the position to do some of those large, large development dollars that are out there.”
The Credit Union of Colorado had $2.24 billion in deposits at the end of 2024. It saw a 6% increase ($127 million) in deposits overall last year.
“We really want to help businesses that are in our own backyard. … We’re not out there trying to maximize profits or maximizing returns,” Wilcox said. “It’s really about building relationships.”
