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Photo by Jon Anderson.
This 3.700-square-foot branch of America’s First Federal Credit Union at 3312 Old Columbiana Road is scheduled to be demolished this summer. A new building with 4,200 to 4,500 square feet and a fresher design will be built on the same spot.
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Photo by Jon Anderson.
The new America’s First Federal Credit Union on Old Columbiana Road in Hoover is supposed to be almost a mirror image of the new credit union branch in Vestavia Hills, shown here.
America’s First Federal Credit Union is planning to tear down its office on Columbiana Road near Green Valley Elementary School and rebuild a new branch in the same spot.
The existing 3,700-square-foot building, built in 1980, is an outdated eyesore and has had some problems, said Alan Stabler, the credit union’s executive vice president and chief administrative officer.
The credit union plans to tear it down and build a 4,200- to 4,500-square-foot building with at least four drive-through lanes and a walk-up automated teller machine that allows users to interact with a live teller, Stabler said. Parking is to be expanded from 45 spaces to 55, he said.
Demolition and construction should start this summer and be completed by the end of this year if weather cooperates, Stabler said. At most, construction should take about nine months once workers get started, he said. A temporary facility will be on site if approved by the city, he said.
This branch is one of the top two or three business-producing branches of the credit union’s 19 branches, Stabler said. It averages about 11,000 teller transactions per month, he said.
The Hoover Board of Zoning Adjustments approved two setback variances to allow the building to be closer to Ahepa Court and Old Columbiana Road than regulations allow. Stabler told the board the new building actually will be farther away from Old Columbiana Road than the existing one.
“We feel like the new building will be an improvement to that lot,” he said.
The new building will be an almost mirror image of the America’s First Federal Credit Union branch in Vestavia Hills, Stabler said. It will have a drive-through at the rear of the building, with the last lane being a drive-up ATM, and there will be a walk-up ATM at the front of the building, he said. The new building also will have a tower that will allow greater visibility from U.S. 31, Stabler said.
