By Ray Birch
ST. LOUIS—Credit unions have partnered with businesses ranging from coffee shops to coworking spaces, and now one CU is sharing space with a new type of partner: an urgent care facility.
West Community Credit Union is leasing space to American Family Care. L. Keeley Construction built the new credit union office that has space for the two tenants on either side.
“I think in the next 20 years you may see (urgent care centers) on a lot of street corners,” precited L. Keeley Construction’s Director of Business Development, Casey Delaney. “They are starting to replace doctor’s offices and I think the trend will only continue. Urgent care facilities are changing medicine, and we're at just the very beginning of this transition.”
In the case of West Community, construction on its new facility was completed in February and the new urgent care center opened in June.
It was a big move for the credit union to rebuild on the space, Delaney explained, as West Community had an old office that remained open while the new 10,000-square-foot building was being constructed behind it.
“Once the new building was open we leveled the old one and it became the parking lot,” said Delaney, who noted West Community occupies just 400 square feet of the location.
The Early Results
The early results have been positive, said Delaney, saying foot traffic to the credit union is high.
Besides the growing numbers of consumers using urgent care facilities today—with the totals expected to climb in the future—another benefit with sharing space with an urgent care facility is it gives credit unions options for growth and flexibility, stated Delaney.
“Urgent cares are in high demand and, as I said, you will see a lot more of them in the future. I think in the coming years credit unions will need physical locations to maintain brand awareness, but they won’t need a lot of space,” he said.
Delaney suggested credit unions will also have the option of leasing space from the urgent care provider.
“And vice versa, of course,” he said. “If the credit union wants to downsize it can lease some of its existing space to the urgent care.”
Change in NCUA Rules
Delaney pointed to NCUA’s new, more lenient rules regarding credit union lease arrangements, which require CUs to occupy less space in their offices than in the past, as making such arrangements easier.
“I think this is going to be a great opportunity for credit unions, because credit union office space is not going to be in as high demand in the future as it is today, with mobile taking more of the transactions,” said Delaney. “But, you're going to need a lot of small little footprints so you’re not forgotten. Who better to partner with than urgent care companies, which are on the rise.”
In partnering with an urgent care, Delaney contends the two organizations should share a building but not the same space. While some credit unions have opened joint spaces with coffee shops in which the two businesses commingle and there are no hard barriers between
Casey Delaney
the two, Delaney believes it’s smarter to have separate spaces—and separate entrances-- for both organizations.
“Banking is a personal matter, and conversations need to remain private, and I don’t think having a coffee shop or urgent care customers in your space helps with that,” said Delaney.
Barriers Needed
But if a credit union decides to share space openly inside its building, then there needs to be some sort of barrier than can be established when the credit union closes and the urgent care facility remains open.
“Urgent care facilities have long hours and are open on weekends,” noted Delaney.
He said he has seen one credit union that shares space with a coffee shop create and “attractive metal gate” that runs on a track and can be used when the CU closes.
One Final Piece of Advice
The other piece of advice Delaney has for credit unions considering working with an urgent care provider is to not partner with a major hospital network.
“Choose a smaller urgent care company to partner with,” he said. “I think this is a good fit for credit unions.”