Expansion-minded Bellco Credit Union to add two full-service branches in Colorado Springs (2024)

The state's second-largest credit union will add at least two full-service branches in Colorado Springs as part of an aggressive expansion along Colorado's Front Range.

Bellco Credit Union of suburban Denver will remodel a recently shuttered Captain D's restaurant at 4441 Integrity Center Point, northwest of Powers Boulevard and Barnes Road, along with a former Wells Fargo Bank branch that later became a medical marijuana facility at 5495 N. Academy Blvd., northeast of Academy and Montebello Drive West, into its first Pikes Peak region branches.

Bellco hopes to begin the buildings' makeover by year's end and open the branches in late 2025 or early 2026, saidJohn Rivera, a senior vice president and chief retail officer for the credit union.

A Bellco location also will open in Pueblo in early 2025, he said.

Founded in 1936, the not-for-profit Bellco had more than $8 billion in assets, over 368,000 members and 29 branches as of the first quarter of this year. Colorado Springs-based Ent Credit Union is the state's largest credit union with $9.9 billion in assets, just over 542,000 members and 55 service centers.

Bellco's expansion to the Springs comes eight years after it received state regulatory approval to serve residents in El Paso County, Rivera said.

Since then, Bellco has added nearly 10,000 members in the county, he said. Those members have access to mobile and online banking, but not to services provided at brick-and-mortar locations unless they drive to Bellco's nearest branch in Castle Rock.

Now, Bellco has launched an expansion strategy that will add branches from Wyoming on the north to New Mexico to the south, Rivera said.

Adding cities such as Colorado Springs will provide local members with easier access to credit union services and provide greater convenience, Rivera said. The physical branches also will help Bellco grow by demonstrating to prospective members that services and products are readily available, he said.

"Right now, those 10,000 members (in El Paso County), even though they have access to all our digital and mobile technology, 24/7 access to banking, we've noticed over the years, they're driving from El Paso or Colorado Springs to our southern branch in Castle Rock to conduct business," Rivera said. "That was another reason to expand into the Springs, to provide them that access."

The expansion, Rivera said, isn't an attempt to go toe-to-toe with the 67-year-old Ent.

Credit unions differ from traditional banking institutions and many actually work together to support the credit union movement, Rivera said. It's not unusual for credit union employees to get together and collaborate, he added.

"We all agree the members come first," Rivera said. "This is really about ... easy, convenient access and growth."

In Colorado Springs, Bellco paid $2.3 million on Aug. 6 to acquire the Captain D's restaurant building at Powers and Barnes, El Paso County land records show. The purchase of the former Wells Fargo and medical marijuana facility is expected to be completed within 30 days, Rivera said.

When remodeled, the branches — each with seven employees —will have teller-assisted drive-up windows, ATM lanes and full-service lobbies, Rivera said. Bellco members will have access to their checking and savings accounts, as well as loans, mortgages, home equity loans and other Bellco products, he said.

Bellco is exploring and reviewing more potential sites in Colorado Springs, Rivera added. Though no additional locations are set in stone, and expansion will depend on factors such as market demand and membership growth, Bellco no doubt will increase its presence in the Springs area over time, he said.

The Captain D's being taken over by Bellco closed Aug. 2, said Lester Nowell, a longtime local franchisee for the restaurant chain. He had opened the location in February 2019.

Sales weren't bad, but not enough to offset the building's construction cost and development of the 1-acre property where it sits, which included $350,000 for a detention pond, Nowell said. High labor and regulatory costs, inflation and the COVID-19 pandemic also hurt the location's bottom line, he said.

At the same time, Nowell, now 77, said he and his wife, Merrilee, who ran the administrative side of his restaurant business, decided it was time to retire.

Land records show Nowell has sold the buildings that house his three other Captain D's restaurants in Colorado Springs at 1234 E. Fillmore St., 1107 N. Academy Blvd. and 2495 S. Academy Blvd. Those restaurants remain open and are being run by his son and daughter-in-law, who've taken over as franchisees, Nowell said.

"Once you get to a certain age," he said, "it's time to get out."