Saginaw Planning Commission approves Team 1 Credit Union site plan for downtown headquarters

The Saginaw Planning Commission approved a site plan review for Team 1 Credit Union’s proposed 30,000-square-foot headquarters at 520 Hayden Street, the commission confirmed during its regular meeting.

The approval, for case J25-2817, was moved and supported and passed with no recorded opposition; commissioners noted the decision is subject to zoning-board approval and three contingencies that were referenced by staff but not detailed in the meeting record.

The applicant, Derek Barber, CEO of Team 1 Credit Union, told the commission the organization plans to remain downtown. “Our roots started here,” Barber said, describing a project intended to replace an existing building while keeping that building open during the first phase of construction.

Architect Chris Aller of AKA Architects presented the site plan and exterior renderings, describing a three-story building with a public branch and a community room on the first floor and primarily open office space on the second and third floors. “I’m really excited about this project. It’s a beautiful building,” Aller said, and noted exterior balconies and a landscape plaza at the corner of Hayden and Jefferson.

Aller explained the layout choices constrained some zoning standards. The design does not meet the city’s 25% first-floor window (fenestration) requirement on the west façade; the applicant said a variance is being requested because adding windows would place glazing where the community room needs a wall for presentations and would make a fitness room a “fishbowl.” “We would end up having a significant amount of windows in the community room…and we wouldn’t have a wall to put our projector on,” Aller said.

Commissioners asked about schedule and parking. Barber said construction is planned to begin in summer (around July) with an anticipated completion in November 2026. The project proposes 104 parking spaces, which Barber said is more than zoning requires. “We’re providing a hundred and 4 parking spaces,” he said.

During discussion a commissioner noted that approval of a site plan is typically followed by a time limit for completion; staff recalled the commission had set a three-year time limit for site-plan performance in past discussion. Commissioners also referenced that recommendations from the planning commission are forwarded to the city council as part of the approval process.

The motion as recorded in the meeting was approved with the conditions that the project receive zoning-board approval at that board’s next meeting and that the listed contingencies be satisfied. The contingencies were referenced in the meeting packet and by staff but were not enumerated aloud in the transcript.

Following the vote, the commission moved on to public comment and other business, including acknowledging a communication received February 16 regarding a zoning-code matter referred to the appropriate department.