Spokane Teachers Credit Union says it has bought a vacant 1.5-acre parcel for a future second South Hill branch.

The site is located at the southeast corner of Hailee Lane and 57th Avenue, just east of the Cedar Canyon Villas apartment complex, says Terri Wilson, STCU's vice president of operations. STCU's only current South Hill branch is in the Manito Shopping Center, at 820 E. 29th.

"We need another branch on the South Hill. Our South Hill branch is overwhelmed," Wilson says, although she adds that the credit union probably won't build a branch there for two years or longer.

In all, STCU has 14 branches. It opened a branch in the Northtown Square shopping center, at 4727 N. Division, and one in Ponderay, Idaho, earlier this year.

STCU branches generally range in size from 1,500 to 3,400 square feet of floor space, and new branches usually start up with six or seven employees, Wilson says. "We like to add employees as our membership grows," she says.

The staff at the current South Hill branch has grown to 12 employees.

Over the last two years, STCU has acquired two other vacant parcels for possible future branches. The credit union bought one parcel in February in south Spokane Valley, at 13211 E. 32nd, and it bought the other site in May 2008 in Airway Heights, at the intersection of U.S. 2 and Centre Way.

"We continue to look for good locations for future branches," Wilson says.

STCU, which was founded here in 1934, has 82,000 members, up from 60,700 members three years ago. It has 370 employees and $1.2 billion in assets, its Web site says.

Rob Tyson and Bob Vaudrey, both of Stonemark Real Estate Co., and Jeff McGougan, of NAI Black, handled the real estate transaction involving the South Hill parcel.