Bethpage Expands Into Queens & N.J. as Part of 'Major' Growth Strategy

Bethpage Federal Credit Union of Long Island announced Monday that it is expanding into Queens and New Jersey, setting up its first new branches since 2020.

Bethpage’s expansion is also notable because New York and New Jersey lost branches during the pandemic at much higher rates than other states.

The nation’s 15th-largest credit union ($13 billion in assets, 455,751 members) plans to open five new branches over the next 12 months.

The Queens branches will be in Sunnyside, Ozone Park and Forest Hills. It will also open a branch in the new Station Yards community in Ronkonkoma in Suffolk County, 23 miles east of its headquarters in Bethpage. The New Jersey branch will be in Cherry Hill, seven miles east of Philadelphia and 120 miles south of Bethpage.

Currently, the credit union’s most distant location is in Manhattan, a branch gained through its acquisition of Montauk Credit Union in 2016.

President/CEO Linda Armyn said Bethpage’s charter allows it to operate most anywhere in the country. It has been expanding to other states through online lending, but wanted to try a more distant location. Cherry Hill was chosen because the head of the credit union’s retail division and several others in the department already lived there.

“It made it an easier place to test out the waters,” Armyn said.

Queens has long been on Bethpage’s wish list, she said. It tried several times to acquire branch locations before the pandemic, but the market was so hot the properties got bought up before Bethpage could land a deal.

So it was a significant moment for Bethpage when the first of this batch of expansions was the opening of the Sunnyside branch Sept. 18.

The next to open will be Ozone Park by year’s end. The Forest Hills, Cherry Hill and Ronkonkoma branches are scheduled to open in the first half of 2024.

NCUA data showed Bethpage had 16 branches in Nassau County, 15 in Suffolk County and its Chelsea Branch in Manhattan on June 30. NCUA data also showed it had 36 locations in December 2019.

Armyn said some branches were closed because they were in stores where operating them was difficult with COVID-19 restrictions. One had low traffic.

Half of states shed 1.0% or more of their branches from December 2019 to December 2021. New York shed 1.8% of its branches and New Jersey shed 6.6% of them — tying with Ohio for the fourth-largest net decrease.

New York lost 37 branches during from 2019 to 2021 and lost another five last year, but has added back four in the first half of this year. New York’s “tri-state” area includes New Jersey and Connecticut.

“Branch expansion throughout the tri-state area is a major part of our growth strategy,” Armyn said. “We look forward to becoming an active and integral member of each of these distinct and vibrant communities.”

The new branches on Long Island cover about 1,500 square feet, compared with a more typical 3,500 square feet, making them easier to fit into dense urban locations. Financial Supermarkets, Inc. (FSI) based in Cornelia, Ga,. will be designing and overseeing fabrication and installation of each new branch, which is expected to take approximately eight weeks onsite, compared with the usual six to 12 months.

The company fabricates the parts for the branch in Georgia, trucks it up to Long Island and assembles it at the new location.

“If a location doesn’t work, you can move it,” Armyn said.

All branches are being built using recycled materials and custom, pre-fabricated, modular designs. Lumber, millwork, laminate and other materials are UL Greenguard Gold Standard certified with low volatile organic compound content and emissions as well as New York City MEA Approved.

“Sustainability is also a major part of our branch expansion plan,” she said. “We’re very enthusiastic about creating new spaces that reduce our carbon footprint.”

Bethpage’s assets grew 10.4% in the 12 months ending June 30, compared with 4.5% for all credit unions. Its membership grew 3.1%, compared to 4.6% for all credit unions.