Grand opening for credit union HQ

Posted by Rich Schwartzman on August 16, 2017

Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union Vice President and CFO Michael Magnavita says the new building exceeds the company's expectations.

The Henderson Group and Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union celebrated the official grand opening of FMFCU's new headquarters in Chadds Ford Wednesday afternoon.

Chadds Ford Township supervisors approved the site for a three-story office building 14 years ago. The new building — Brandywine 6 — is located in Henderson's Chadds Ford Business Campus at the intersection of Dickinson and Henderson drives.

It's the largest building Henderson has constructed, according to Henderson President and CEO Brian Coyle. And, he said, it was finished sooner than anticipated.

"We were able to deliver the building to the Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union a month ahead of schedule. And, if you didn't know, we had a tight deadline of only 12 months. That's downright extraordinary, Coyle said.

Brian Coyle, the president and CEO of The Henderson Group addresses a small crowd during the grand opening of the new Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union headquarters in Chadds Ford.

For that accomplishment, Coyle thanked the entire team, including the credit union, the design team, engineering teams and the builder, the Norwood Co. He referred to the performance of all as "exceptional."

FMFCU moved into the building in early July and occupies 51,000 square feet — of almost 71,000 — on the top two floors and a portion of the first floor. Henderson will lease the rest of that ground floor to other tenants.

Michael Magnavita, executive vice president and CFO for FMFCU, said the credit union began looking for new space two years ago. It was important, he said, that FMFCU remain in Delaware County because it began in Delco and grew to be among the largest financial institutions in the county. FMFCU has more than $1 billion in assets and more than 82,000 credit union members. The Chadds Ford location was one of two sites considered, and Magnavita thinks it was the best choice.

"This building, from our employees’ perspective, has exceeded our expectations as far as the impact of us moving in here and reinventing part of the credit union," he said. "We're happy to be here. We couldn't have made a better selection.

There are currently 180 FMFCU employees working at the new headquarters. Another 60 are anticipated by the year 2022 as the market grows.

About Rich Schwartzman

Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.