United Credit Union has signed a lease to become the anchor tenant in a new 1648 square metre office building at 416 Roberts Road Subiaco.
The building is expected to be completed in December, 2005, and United Credit Union will be selling its existing premises, at the corner of Cambridge and Southport streets, in West Leederville.
United Credit Union CEO Ian Williams said commercial and branding reasons were behind the move.
“As a community based credit union we are not really in the community in our current location… and the new location will give us much better access and prominence,” Mr Williams said.
“We have also been in our current building for over 20 years, and it is time for a refurbishment.
“Our current building is not purpose built and was designed for four separate businesses, one of which was a car dealership.”
He added that the decision to go from being an owner to a tenant was because as a lending institution, United Credit Union’s role was to lend people money to own property, not to own property in its own right.
The Dibstone Group will develop the new office building. United Credit Union has taken 1450 square metres of the 1684 square metres available but Mr Williams said it might possibly take all the space in the building.
United Credit Union will have naming rights on the new building.
There are currently 115 employees in the United Credit Union’s head office who will move to the new premises.
The two-level building will be open plan and contain a retail banking area and sales outlet.