Described as a milestone by its company president, United Federal Credit Union celebrated the grand opening of a new corporate office building in Niles.

“It is truly a red letter day not just because we are opening a new building that will serve as our flagship branch, but also because of what it symbolizes — our ongoing commitment to our communities and our members,” said President/CEO Gary Easterling as Tuesday’s ceremony.

The 30,000-square-foot building located at 2102 S. 11th St. was constructed to further improve member services and shorten the commute time for employees who live in the southern portion of Berrien County. Just under 100 employees are housed at the Niles operations center doing everything from accounting to collections to finance and human resources work.

Most of the employees worked at the corporate office in St. Joseph prior to the construction of the Niles facility.

“What we are really trying to do is accomplish work/life balance for our employees because we have a lot of people who work out of south county,” said UFCU CFO Tim Gray. “Rather than having everyone drive all the way up to St. Joseph everyday it has cut down on the commute time.”

Niles Township Supervisor Jim Stover said he was excited to see this facility built, especially at a time when there is a lack of new development on South 11th Street and in the township as a whole.

“This facility will hopefully stimulate additional development or rehabilitation of properties in this area,” Stover said. “Existing businesses have experienced additional activity generated by this workforce.

“Thank you for those who made the decision to move the operation to Niles and we look forward to working with United Federal Credit Union in the future.”

United Federal Credit Union has experienced tremendous growth over the past nine years. It holds $1.83 billion in assets — more than double when compared to 2006 — and has more than 500 employees, a 59 percent increase when compared to 2006.

Membership has grown over 80 percent since 2006 to more than 132,000 members in all 50 states.

Four Flags Chamber President Tyanna Weller applauded UFCU for its growth and commended the company for investing in the Niles area by opening its operation center there.

“We are just really happy that they are here and we look forward to where they are going to take us next,” she said.

Easterling said the company has made a positive impact in Berrien County. In the course of the past year, he said UFCU in Berrien County has helped place its Berrien County members in 213 new homes, helped them purchase approximately 3,000 new cars and provided financing for 61 local businesses, including Selge Construction, Joey Armadillo’s, Hope Community Church, Niles District Library and Appolo Printing and Graphics.