CAP COM Federal Credit Union has the green light to start construction on its new headquarters in Colonie.
The company received final site approval at a Colonie Planning Board meeting on Tuesday, April 23, about four months after plans were first submitted to the board. The new financial center will sit at 4 Winners Circle, about one mile from CAP COM’s existing main office at 18 Computer Drive East in Colonie, which opened in 1988. The credit union has 280 employees in 11 Capital Region branches and about 93,000 bank members.
The sizeable upgrade will sit on 11 acres of land next to The Crossings of Colonie and will feature a three-story, 118,400-square-foot office building, a bank branch, an ATM line, a drive-thru and a maintenance garage.
“Our main office and mortgage division are nearly bursting at the seams. Right now, our primary goals are to plan for future growth and meet the needs of our members,” said CAP COM President and CEO Paula A. Stopera in a statement. “That’s part of the reason we are so excited to be staying in the neighborhood. Our members have used the Computer Drive East branch for more than 25 years and the new financial center and main branch will be right down the street and easy to find.”
One of the Planning Board’s biggest concerns during the review of the project was traffic coming off of Wolf Road. Using the board’s recommendation, CAP COM will install a roundabout, which will create a connector at Marcus Boulevard to Albany-Shaker and Sand Creek roads, where there are already roundabouts. Creating a roundabout at Marcus Boulevard would provide one complete movement, officials have said, to allow travelers to avoid Wolf Road altogether.
The engineer for the project, Daniel Hershberg, of Hershberg & Hershberg Engineering, said the building will also feature LED lights.
“We think there is a payback time with energy costs and maintenance. CAP COM was anxious to use them,” he said.
The company also had to keep note of what trees will be used for the landscaping to make sure they are not invasive to the Pine Bush. Hershberg said they will be using red oak trees.
Hershberg said CAP COM plans to have a very aggressive building schedule, with construction to begin by the middle of May and the project completed by the summer of 2014.