JONESBORO -- A Jonesboro church has offered to buy the former Northeast Arkansas District Fairgrounds just north of the Craighead County city after a bankruptcy court approved the liquidation of the fairgrounds last fall because of millions in debt.
The Rev. Stan Ballard of Nettleton Baptist Church said his church agreed to buy the 77-acre fairgrounds, an exposition building, two livestock facilities and a maintenance building off U.S. 49 between Jonesboro and Brookland.
Ballard would not disclose the sale price, saying the deal won't close until mid-April.
The Craighead County Fair Association filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2014, owing more than $9 million. The property was listed for $8.5 million with a global commercial real estate service that has an office in Little Rock.
Fair association President Michael Cureton said he didn't know details of the sale, but said he heard it sold for about $7 million. The land was appraised for $13.3 million in 2013.
"It's a lot of property, but it's a nice setting," Ballard said. "There's plenty of parking space and we won't have to build from scratch."
The pastor said he plans to convert the 113,600-square-foot exhibition building into a chapel by September.
Nettleton Baptist Church bought 22 acres south of the fairgrounds earlier this year but now intends to sell that.
Ballard said he hopes to lease the fairgrounds land to the fair association so it can continue hosting the yearly fair there.
"We're 99 percent sure we will have a fair there this year," Cureton said. "We will be there at least for the short term. We're starting to plan to see what the future holds for the long term."
The district fair has been held in Jonesboro for at least 60 years. About 60,000 attend the weeklong fair each September.
Cureton said the fair association overspent by $2 million to $3 million when it moved north to the site on U.S. 49 in 2012. He said the association could not pay contractors who helped build new facilities.
The association sold portions of its former 37-acre fairgrounds on Highland Drive and Fair Park Boulevard in the center of Jonesboro for $3.9 million.
The Nettleton Baptist Church has been in Nettleton -- a former separate town that merged with eastern Jonesboro half a century ago -- for 122 years, Ballard said.
Although the church is moving north of Jonesboro, it won't change its name, he said.
"That's an emotional issue," Ballard said. "We will keep the name for now."
He said workers will renovate the exhibit building to include rooms for Sunday school classes, offices, a sanctuary and a sound system.
"We won't do anything with the livestock buildings," Ballard said. "We will allow the kids to have their animals there during the fair. We want to work with them to help save the fair."
Cureton said other events, such as craft shows, car shows and outdoor business events, that used to frequent the fairgrounds site will no longer be held there.
"The community will miss that," Cureton said of the additional events. "But the core value of the fair is to have things for the kids. We will still be able to maintain that core."
State Desk on 03/22/2016