Credit union eyes south Modesto for branch

Modesto’s Community Trust Credit Union has a new name and could open a new branch along Crows Landing Road in a poorer, heavily Latino part of the city that does not have a traditional financial institution.

Community Trust has adopted the name of its corporate parent, Self-Help Federal Credit Union. The proposed branch would be on vacant land that once was the home of the Modesto Tallow Co. The rendering plant closed in 2006 and its buildings were later demolished after years of complaints about the noxious odors from turning dead livestock into the raw materials for pet food, soap and other products.

Self-Help Executive Vice President Joe Duran said his company is looking at purchasing a couple of acres for the branch, and for offices for a call center and information technology operations to serve Self-Help’s roughly two-dozen branches in California and the Chicago area. Self-Help and the city also are talking about the credit union building a community center at the site, which nonprofits and community groups could use.

Duran said Self-Help will keep its Tenaya Drive branch – which now houses the call center and IT workers – and needs to expand because it has outgrown its one Modesto location. Self-Help also has a branch in Riverbank.

“A lot of it has to do with how we see ourselves as an institution – economic opportunity for all,” Duran said about the proposed branch in south Modesto. “We see that as an underserved area.”

Duran stressed that nothing is final and that Self-Help continues to negotiate with the former tallow plant property’s owners.

“We are optimistic and hopeful that a deal will be struck in order to purchase this property,” he said. He added that if everything falls into place, the branch, offices and community center could open in 2017.

Congregations Building Community Executive Director Homero Mejia said a credit union would be great news for south Modesto and Crows Landing Road, a bustling corridor that serves as the southern entrance into Modesto.

“I think its a great opportunity for that community to prosper,” said Mejia, whose organization works with marginalized groups in Stanislaus County.

Mejia said Self-Help’s mission includes working with low-income people who don’t have access to banks and other traditional financial institutions. He said a credit union branch in south Modesto means its residents can establish checking and savings accounts, get loans and build their credit.

Modesto Tallow opened in 1917 and had been a key part of local agriculture for decades. Homes, businesses and Shackelford Elementary School were built in succeeding decades near the plant. The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District logged more than 2,000 odor complaints from 1994 to 2005. The district sued Modesto Tallow in 2005, accusing the rendering plant of creating a public nuisance.

Modesto Tallow agreed to close in 2006 in a settlement with the air district. Supporters of the plant said officials never should have allowed homes, stores and a school to be built so close. But neighbors and regulators said the company had a duty to control its odors, and failed badly.

The credit union could be a catalyst for more development at the former tallow plant site.

The plant took up 60 acres near Shackelford. The landowners – Texas-based Modesto Holding Co. and Idaho-based Southwest Hide Co. – could not be reached for comment. But Mehmet Noyan with the Fresno-based Noyan Co. represents them and said they are exploring other potential development.

He said the focus is on the 42 acres within the city. The remaining 18 acres are in Stanislaus County’s jurisdiction. He said the potential development could include a shopping center, offices, and apartments or condos overlooking the Tuolumne River. He said the owners do not have a timeline for development.

“I like that site,” Noyan said. “I think it has tremendous potential.”

Duran credited Councilman Tony Madrigal and Mayor Garrad Marsh with urging him to consider Crows Landing Road. Marsh had asked several financial institutions overs the years to open a branch in south Modesto. Duran met with them and City Manager Jim Holgersson. Madrigal also set up a meeting for Duran and south Modesto business and community leaders.

“My vision is to have the entire site developed to help transform the Crows Landing corridor,” said Madrigal, whose council district includes south Modesto. “From talking to business leaders and community leaders, they need more basic services that the rest of Modesto has, such as a bank, a post office, entertainment venues.”

This story was originally published December 5, 2015 at 3:48 PM with the headline "Credit union eyes south Modesto for branch."