At long last, our amazing new lobby and office spaces are move-in ready and about to be unveiled. Our new lobby at 3600 Brooks Street will be opening for the first time tomorrow, July 8th at 9:00 a.m. We couldn’t be more thrilled with the fantastic group we’ve worked with over the past year. Everyone–from the architects to the sub-contractors–has taken such pride and ownership in this project. It’s inspiring to see so many people work together so seamlessly.

Ok, enough gushing. Suffice it to say, our staff is moving in and we are so excited! Stop by to check out the new digs, or join us at our grand opening scheduled for July 23rd.

Up next? Work has already begun on the ‘old’ portion of the building, to remodel it into state-of-the-art training, meeting and community space. MFCU prides itself on providing high-level professional training opportunities for our 150 staff members, as well as hosting financial seminars for the community. The new space is slated to be completed in early 2011. As always, we’ll keep you posted here!

The trees are BACK!! After nearly a year of “hanging” in the warehouse at Gordon Construction, the birch trees we removed from the [former] boulevard area along Brooks Street, our birches have come home!

The trees are BACK!

They are being settled into their new home in the front atrium of the new building. Their trunks and branches will serve as artwork, landscaping and decoration all in one! Once the building is occupied, lights will illuminate the trees in the evenings to show off their beautiful colors and shapes. You could say they’ll be a “shining” example of clever reuse. : )

Our thanks to Tear It Up for their shredding services, and for being super-friendly. And guess what? They even make home visits! Give Brandon Sorenson at call at 543-6898.

And thanks to our members for stopping by on a beautiful, blustery Saturday to drop off their paper! We’re seriously considering doing another shred event this fall, so keep your eyes on our web site at www.missoulafcu.org

Happy Spring!

This project has been part of our strategic plan for the past 4 years. Our Board and Management saw several years ago that we would be in need of upgraded, additional facilities in the coming years and prudently began planning for it by building up our capital and exploring a variety of options to fill our needs.

The time has come and we have literally run out of room. We have staff temporarily housed in the basement at Fairway who will be losing their office space when that lease runs out next year. We have filled the Southside Branch to overflowing and need to hire additional back office staff, but have no place to put them. We have departments split up and working in different locations… all of which can impact the speed and efficiency of the service we are able to provide our members. This is unacceptable to our Board and Management, hence the construction project. We will be remodeling the current Southside Branch building, adding a two-story building (with basement) to the front of it and turning the Training Center back into a drive up facility with 6 updated teller tubes, 2 ATMs and a night drop. (This will double our drive up capacity and reduce wait times for our members.)

This is actually a GREAT time for us to build. Prices have declined significantly since we started planning the project (down nearly $2 million!) so we are getting an even better deal for our members. Construction has come to a significant slow-down, so we are providing a “local stimulus” by keeping local contractors employed through these difficult times. Whenever possible we have used local (Missoula and W. MT) contractors. Some services (steel fabrication for example) are not available locally, so we had to go outside the area for that. We have used a local architectural and engineering firm and a local general contractor.

Phase 1: During the last week of March, work will begin on the building that has been acting as our Training Center, just east of the Southside branch. We’re going to convert that building back into a functioning drive-up, complete with video links to the tellers inside.

Part of this first phase of work will also involve cutting a door into the south side of our current branch (closest to Dore Lane) to allow access to the existing lobby during construction.

Phase 2: We’ll build a two-story (plus basement) addition on the north side of the existing building (closest to Brooks). This addition will allow more of our administration to work in one spot, which will certainly make it a whole lot more efficient. This phase will take the longest, but it will be the most visible change.

Phase 3: Once the front part of the new building is complete, we’ll convert the current building (which by then will be the ‘old’ building) into a training center. The new facility will allow us to expand our current seminar offerings, and hopefully give us a spot where our entire staff can meet at once.

We’ll try to keep everything accessible and moving during this project, but it will be a tad disruptive. Please watch for signs to direct you, or feel free to visit our other branches.