Opus Adds Branches, Multi-Family Loans

The growth-hungry Opus Bank in Irvine, Calif., is making good on its plans to grow organically alongside acquisitions.

The $2.4 billion-asset company announced Tuesday it has plans to open new branches in: Pasadena, Calif.; Gig Harbor, Wash.; and Mount Vernon Wash.

Those three branches would add to the 39 offices the company currently has. In the last year, it has also announced plans to open other branches in southern and northern California and in the Seattle/Puget Sound metropolitan area.

The branch expansion complements the company's acquisition strategy. Last year, the company acquired the $1.5 billion-asset Cascade Bank in Everett, Wash. and the $640 million-asset Fullerton Community Bank in Fullerton, Calif.

Opus Bank is headed by Stephen Gordon, who led a $460 million recapitalization of the then Bay Cities National Bank. He changed the name and has plans on building a West Coast super-regional bank.

Late last year the company raised an additional $100 million of capital to fund additional loan growth, open new branches and fund additional acquisitions.

Opus also announced Tuesday that it originated $22.3 million of multi-family loans in the Seattle region in December 2011 and January of this year. Like a number of banks, Opus is ramping up in multi-family lending as homeownership rates decline.

"As residential foreclosures are increasing, resulting in our country shifting toward becoming more of a rental nation, multifamily and other affordable housing options are in heavy demand," Gordon said in a news release. "Here in the Western region, the need could not be greater."