By Jaime Thomas
Great Meadow Federal Credit Union confirmed plans Thursday to open up a new, expanded office in Granville this fall.
The GMFCU recently purchased a property at 26-36 East Main Street next to the current location in an old house at 24 East Main Street. The new building will be a large branch with a lobby, a drive up ATM, a two-lane drive through, four or five offices, a conference room and a training room, said CEO Ryan Roberts.
“The Granville office now will have all the products and services of your traditional financial institution,” Roberts said. He said expansion was a natural step with growing membership.
“We’ve grown tremendously in the last five years in both membership and in assets,” he said, adding that assets have increased from 9 to 25 million in the last five years and membership has increased from 1,000 to 2,500 members in that chunk of time.
He said GMFCU has primarily been based out of Granville for a while, and that office claims most of the company’s membership. He hopes the new building will be finished by Columbus Day.
Additionally, Roberts confirmed the credit union will open a new branch in South Glens Falls next month.
The business will take over another credit union at 20 Saratoga Avenue.
“We are merging Niagara Mohawk Power Northern Area Federal Credit Union (NMP) into Great Meadow FCU on July 1,” Roberts said, adding that as of that date the NMP will no longer exist.
Roberts said the transition should be smooth and clients should notice little difference. Those currently with NMP will now have access to more services, and some GMFCU clients will have access to a more convenient location.
“We have just over 2,000 members and 500 that live in Saratoga and Warren counties, so it will be right there for them,” Roberts said. He said his credit union has added a number of new products and services in the past three years, including checking accounts, online banking, ATMs without fees nationwide, mortgage lending and more.
“The resounding fashion in which the NMP membership voted in approval has us very excited to help grow the relationship with their credit union. We look forward to finalizing the merger and beginning to serve the new combined membership,” Roberts said in a release.
