MADISON, Wis. — Though fast-food restaurants and gas stations are usually located on prime pieces of real estate and the site plan sets up nicely for a financial branch, the buildings themselves can pose major problems for CUs that are planning to remodel the structure rather than level it.
"Whenever you cook food in whatever environment, it gives off a lot of humidity," LaMacchia Group president Ralph LaMacchia noted. "You not only have the odor, but there's humidity behind the walls which turns to mold. And if there is mold, that's not a small thing."
Gas stations, which are also a popular target for financial institution conversions, carry their own set of potential headaches. In addition to the strong branding features of national chains, "you need to be concerned with the list of EPA regulations," said William Bily, VP-design at DEI Incorporated. "Due diligence should tell you if the site is worth the headache. For instance, are the tanks still in the ground?"
Solid estimates and working with contractors that have experience in major renovation work are an absolute must, LaMacchia said. Fixing mold issues in fast-food joints, which can only be done by removing layers of wall and replacing them, can set the conversion timeframe back and increase the costs substantially if the problem is not discovered before construction begins.
"It's like anything else, do your homework," LaMacchia said. "The older you get in terms of the life of that building, the more problems you're going to have and the more money you're going to have to invest."
As Envision CU prepares to convert a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Tallahassee, Fla. into its latest branch, SVP of member services Holly Maddox pointed out the internal configuration issues that must be resolved.
"When you're dealing with a fast-food restaurant, the way they set up their refrigeration and electricity is unique because they put a lot of it into one area," she explained. "We're going to have to put a lot into that because it is structured for a restaurant and not a credit union."
Envision is using only the skeleton of the existing structure, so contractors working for will likely have to add additional wiring to other parts of the building and make significant changes to the way the air conditioning system is setup. Exhaust vents and piping also poses a challenge, LaMacchia noted. The vents taking heat up and away from the kitchen have to be capped or cleaned, and are difficult to remove without taking out large sections of the roof.
Obviously one of the biggest problems in converting a restaurant is establishing the sites new identity as a credit union branch. While Envision CU is making major changes that will thoroughly disguise the building's past, a more economical approach can leave the new branches still looking like the old fast food joint.
"Strongly branded restaurants may have an exterior design that represents their brand. Just because you remove the golden arches and repaint the red roof doesn't mean you're credit union doesn't look like a former McDonald's," Bily pointed out.
Golden Rule Community Credit Union encountered that problem when it converted a Burger King to a branch about five years ago. The $22-million Ripon, Wis.-based institution did not have enough capital to make major structural changes, so it instead relied on a re-painted exterior but a fully overhauled interior.
"[After the conversion] the outside of the facility looked still like a Burger King so we had to look at how we could not spend a lot of money and yet create an identity," said Golden Rule CEO Daniel Ige. "We did that with how the interior was laid out. We still get comments today from people who walk in for the first time that were blown away that this was once a Burger King."
But there are ways to address the exterior without breaking the bank according to St. Louis-based builder Clayco. Financial projects director Tom Mooney cited a conversion of an ice cream stand to a new MECU branch in Oklahoma City as a prime example. There the construction firm used EIFS, a synthetic stucco product, to make a major style change to the old structure.
"It's a fairly inexpensive way to address the outside of the building, [and] it goes on fairly quickly," said Mooney.
