Orion FCU invests in medical district

Orion Federal Credit Union is making an investment in the medical district that includes an environmental clean-up of a former gas station site near Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital.

Orion filed a $1.5 million building permit in early December for a site at 821 Poplar Ave., the location of a former gas station.
The environmental clean-up of the site could’ve been a deterrent to locating a branch there, but Orion CEO Daniel Weickenand said there is much promise with the location.

“There are places down Poplar where you wouldn’t have to clean up the environmental mess but how in good conscience do you leave that close to a children’s hospital,” he said.

Weickenand said the property has been cleaned, including digging out 15 feet of soil. He’s hopeful the branch will open in the summer.

The 3,000-square-foot branch will include one drive-through teller with two lanes, three universal stations that perform teller transactions and member service/consumer loan transactions.

Weickenand said the institution’s board is excited about the location and the investment in the medical district. Orion’s closest branch is on Union Avenue in Midtown.

“Since we purchased the property and announced that we’re going there all this news is coming out about things going on in the district,” he said, referring to expansions of various health care institutions. “When it felt that maybe we were taking a risk I feel we’ve hit a home run with all the investment now going on.”

Tara Smith, Vice President of Retail at Orion, said the location of the branch in a spot that isn’t prime property isn’t unprecedented. The credit union built near Perkins Road in Parkway Village.

“We’re taking that same philosophy to the medical district and buying the old gas station,” she said. “It’s another way to help improve a Memphis community and then develop those community partnerships as well. I know the medical district is starting to be built up and we’re happy to be a part of it.”