NovaStar Expands Wholesale Operation

The nonconforming lender will accommodate 250 new hirings in a 40,000 square-foot facility based in the Salt Lake City area, which it expects to open in May or June, spokesman Mike Enos told MortgageDaily.com in an e-mailed statement.

The employee base will consist of wholesale operations staff, front line customer service personnel and appropriate management, Enos said.

NovaStar will start recruiting in or around March or April and complete the process over the next two years, according to the statement.

The Kansas City, Mo.-based lender currently employs 2,800 nationwide, of which approximately 950 are employees in the wholesale division, Enos said.

The facility will represent the first wholesale operations in Utah. Wholesale loan origination groups are currently based in Orange County, Calif., Cleveland, Ohio and Flint, Mich., according to the company’s Web site, while retail operations are conducted from offices in Kansas City, Orange County and in the Baltimore, Md., area.

Last December, NovaStar gained approval from the Seminole County Board of County Commissioners for a qualified targeted industry incentive award to open a facility in Lake Mary, Fla. The lender planned to create 170 new jobs there over a three-year period, with an average annual salary of $45,000.

Enos said that both the Utah and Florida locations “were originally slated, but it was later determined the Lake Mary operation was not necessary at this time.”