BENTONVILLE -- First Security Bank is gearing up to construct a three-story building that will include its business, leased space and a residential unit less than a block from the downtown square.
First Security Bank is proposing a 9,716-square-foot bank at 108 S. Main St. The first floor will be a full service branch of the bank, the second floor will be leased office space and a residential unit will occupy the third floor.
Commission Action
Bentonville’s Planning Commission met Tuesday and approved:
• A Property line adjustment on Northwest Park Drive.
• Development plans for Mercy Clinic North Bentonville at 1401 N. Walton Blvd.; townhomes on Southwest Sixth and Southwest B streets; and an office addition at 3504 S.E. Riviera Road.
• Rezonings at 208 S.W. F St. from single family residential to downtown medium density residential; 700 and 702 S.E. Fifith St. from heavy industrial to general commercial; and property on Northeast Second and Northeast H streets from single family residential to downtown low density residential.
Source: Staff Report
The first floor of the exterior will be a light-colored cast stone while the top two stories will be brick, elevations show.
"The project would entail a very high-end architectural look aimed at meeting the city of Bentonville's goal of respecting the traditional charm and feel of its downtown area while incorporating more modern urban design elements," Adam Rutledge, the bank's Northwest Arkansas president, wrote in the bank's bid to buy the land.
The Planning Commission approved 5-0 the plans at its meeting Tuesday. Commissioners Rod Sanders and Greg Matteri were absent.
The property was owned by the city and used for its utility drive-through payment window. That has since moved a few blocks south to 402 S. Main St. to a larger building remodeled to also include other city offices and storage.
First Security Bank, headquartered in Searcy, was the highest of three bidders for the 108 S. Main St. property. It bought the tenth of an acre for $400,000 last August.
Having a branch downtown fits in with the city's effort to minimize distance between residents and needed services, Rutledge mentioned in his letter.
Access will be through the alley to the south. No new access points are proposed, according to meeting documents. An 8-foot-wide sidewalk with street trees and a curbed planting island will be built on South Main Street.
The plans also included a waiver request for the five off-site parking spaces required, which commissioners also approved.
Customers can use any of the nine public parking lots downtown. There are 281 unoccupied spaces within a five-minute walk of the development site on average during the work week, meeting documents show.
Most buildings immediately around the downtown square don't have specific parking spaces but rather use public parking, Commissioner Richard Binns commented.
There's a large public parking lot just southwest of the project site that serves City Hall and several surrounding businesses.
The transaction between the city and bank worked out well for the city and is good for downtown, Mayor Bob McCaslin said Tuesday afternoon.
"Responsible development is always good," he said. "I have no doubt that these people will build a facility that not only will they be proud of, we'll all be proud of."
The goal is to have the bank branch open by 2018, according to Rutledge.
The First Security Bank will be the second financial institution within a block of the downtown square. Arvest Bank is on the square's northeast corner.
First National Bank recently opened a location at 402 S.W. A St. in the art district, just five blocks from the square.
NW News on 06/21/2017