SchoolsFirst Federal Credit Union, the largest credit union in California, has been given the go-ahead to build a new corporate headquarters facility in Tustin, and expects a big hiring push as a result.
The Santa Ana-based credit union, with $15.2 billion in assets at the end of 2018, recently completed a deal with the city of Tustin to buy a 1.8-acre site just off the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway near Edinger Avenue.
The land sale is reported to be around $2.9 million. The credit union and the city have been in discussions over the project and land sale since 2017.
The vacant property is next to SchoolsFirst’s existing main corporate facility, a two-building operations center totaling about 150,000 square feet.
The extra land will hold a three-story, 180,000-square-foot office.
Construction should start around November; it will be the second-largest build-to-suit office project underway in Orange County, trailing only a campus expansion now underway at Edward Lifesciences Corp.
Upon completion, it will bring the credit union’s total square footage in the area to more than 380,000; its current headquarters a few miles away in Santa Ana run about 45,000 square feet.
It’s had that Newport Avenue location—which it refers to as the Rudy Hanley campus, named after its former chief executive—since 1994, and owns the property.
SchoolsFirst’s planned Tustin project includes a new 5,000-square-foot branch and a four-level parking structure.
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The new facilities are big enough to hold approximately 750 additional employees at SchoolsFirst’s Tustin campus, bringing the total workforce in the city to more than 1,600 employees.
It’s set to become the largest employer in the city.
Tustin Mayor Chuck Puckett said the relocation of the credit union’s headquarters to Tustin will “set the tone for future development in the area.”
Relocating its corporate headquarters in Tustin reinforces that the city is a great place to start, move, or expand a business,” he said in a statement.
“Our campus expansion and this new building will enable us to bring together several teams, helping us better serve our members,” said Bill Cheney, SchoolsFirst president and chief executive.
Employees moving to the new offices include the C-suite and board of directors.
The Tustin project is a few miles away from the Flight creative office project on the city’s former Marine base, and is in proximity to a new office project proposed on Barranca Parkway near Von Karman Avenue (see story, page 3).
