Wellby Financial is preparing to break ground on a new five-story headquarters near Baybrook Mall, a project the credit union says will consolidate operations currently scattered across multiple Houston-area locations. The groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for 10 a.m. on October 29 at 19130 Gulfbrook Drive, per a company news release the credit union issued Tuesday, with speeches expected from Wellby Financial CEO Marty Pell and Space Center Houston board member Deborah Conder.
According to wellbyfinancial.com, the credit union describes itself as preparing to break ground on “a new place to prosper.” The planned headquarters sits on a 9.5-acre site at Baybrook Center near I-45 and will total 102,246 square feet across five stories, the company says. As reported by Community Impact, the groundbreaking location is listed as 19130 Gulfbrook Drive in Webster, Texas, while Wellby's own site places the address in Friendswood — a discrepancy in how the area is described that hasn't been independently resolved.
What's Planned for the Campus
Beyond office space, the headquarters campus will include a new Wellby member branch, an event space with an outdoor balcony, a central courtyard, training and meeting rooms, flexible collaboration spaces, a parking garage and team-member amenities, per the company's headquarters page. The broader development also includes a three-tier, 156,756-square-foot precast parking garage estimated to cost $9.93 million, according to thecudaily.com, which also reports the headquarters project itself is expected to cost more than $42.5 million and be completed in 2028.
A filing with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation lists a start date of October 1, 2026, a projected completion date of October 30, 2028, and an estimated project cost of $42,533,000, describing the project as privately funded. That timeline lines up with newer Wellby materials stating construction is expected to begin in October 2026, with completion targeted for October 2028 — though an earlier 2024 company announcement had anticipated construction starting in 2025, a discrepancy the credit union's own materials don't fully reconcile.
About 200 Employees Expected Initially
About 200 employees will initially work at the new headquarters, according to a report from bizjournals.com, which also notes the building is designed to consolidate operations currently spread across multiple Houston locations. Wellby says the headquarters will provide capacity and infrastructure to serve members and support the credit union's continued growth across Houston, per its news release. Existing branches and services will keep operating as usual, and the company's recently refreshed Gemini branch will remain open as Wellby's flagship location even after the new headquarters opens.
Wellby, a 65-year-old financial institution in Houston according to Community Impact, was originally established in 1961 to serve employees and families of NASA Johnson Space Center, per news.wellbyfinancial.com. The credit union now serves more than 127,000 members through 22 branches and holds more than $2.67 billion in assets, the same company materials state. Wellby opened a branch on Clear Lake Boulevard inside the area's H-E-B in 2024, part of a broader push that has also put full-service branches inside H-E-B stores in Katy, Cypress and Sugar Land, according to Community Impact's earlier coverage.
Part of a Longer Growth Push
The headquarters project traces back to June 7, 2024, when Wellby announced it had acquired the 9.5 acres near Baybrook Mall for the new campus, according to news.wellbyfinancial.com. Wellby has also framed 2026 priorities around geographic expansion in key Houston markets, branch growth and increased digital engagement, per the same source. In February, the credit union announced a $9 million special member dividend to mark its 65th anniversary, with Pell calling it part of building for Wellby's next 65 years.
Wellby describes the new headquarters as a way to bring more of its teams together, strengthen collaboration and support continued growth — goals the company reiterated on its own headquarters page. With the October 29 groundbreaking approaching, the credit union is positioning the Baybrook-area project as the next chapter for an institution that started six and a half decades ago serving NASA families and has since grown into a 22-branch operation across the Houston region.
