The president and CEO of America's Credit Union, Ken Leonard, has a good business habit: He strives to be proactive rather than reactive.

Recently, ACU announced the acquisition of a 54,000-square-foot commercial office building in DuPont, which was formerly known as the Venture Bank building.

"Initially, we were just looking for the retail space to rent out, but then we saw the numbers," he said. "For what we paid versus what it is worth, we had to do it. It was a systematic financial decision, and we're just working on our simple business model," Leonard laughed. "Plus, we were in the right place at the right time."

ACU, which has been providing financial services to thousands of service members and their families for more than 56 years, is the official credit union of Joint Base Lewis-McChord Main and has a number of members and a strong foothold within DuPont already.

"Within three to five years we will be feeling the pains of growth and will need to consolidate the administrative offices into one regional location, and that will be DuPont," Leonard explained. "Buying this ahead of time will result in us saving millions of dollars."

However, Leonard maintains that there will always be a strong ACU presence on JBLM regardless of a move.

"Most likely my office will always be on base," said Leonard. "We'll always have some administrative offices on the base ... and I like my office."

The building, which was completed in 2007, has more than 7,000 square feet on the first floor dedicated to storefront retail space - giving ACU a tremendous opportunity to lease the space out over the next few years.

In addition to its existing 10 branches, ACU has plans for a new branch in Yelm, with building possibly slated to start in 2011. In January the credit union will take over space in the Lakewood WalMart, which has been occupied by Anchor Bank.

As part of this move, ACU will relocate its existing DuPont branch from McNeil Station to the new building at 1495 Wilmington Dr. by the end of the year. The new location for this branch will offer members expanded services, including drive-up banking and safe deposit boxes.

"In many ways, DuPont is a military extension of JBLM, so for us it makes perfect sense to be present in that market and to call it our home," Leonard said.