story Kim Souza
ksouza@thecitywire.com
The crowded banking sector in Northwest Arkansas continues to draw interest from outside the region evidenced by the recent deal struck between Simmons First National to sell five of its empty branches to First Paragould Bankshares.
The real estate deal is valued in excess of $12 million, which helps Simmons recoup some of the $53.6 million it spent acquiring Metropolitan National Bank in the fall of 2013.
Each of the five shuttered locations sold were former branches of Metropolitan National Bank, including the Benton County headquarters located at 3701 Pinnacle Hills Parkway, one of the most visible addresses in the region.
Real estate records indicate the Pinnacle location in Rogers — 22,800 square feet — sold for $4.69 million. The other site locations and sale prices include:
• $1.75 million: 300 S.E. Walton Blvd, Bentonville;
• $2.41 million: 2,692 E. Mission Blvd., Fayetteville;
• $1.87 million: 4000 Great House Springs Road, Johnson; and
• $1.48 million: 1950 Pleasant St., Springdale.
First Bankshares Paragould is the holding company for First National Bank Paragould which has nine branches serving Paragould and Jonesboro and soon Heber Springs. Bank officials did not return a call made on Tuesday (Oct. 28) regarding this transactions.
First National Bank Paragould had assets of $806.96 million as of June 30 and is primarily known as an agricultural lender with a 125-year history.
John Dominick, banking consultant and professor at the University of Arkansas, said Northwest Arkansas continues to draw interest from bankers across the state because of the growth potential here.
“We are overbanked. There are too many branches and banks in this market in spite of some consolidation in recent months. This market is highly competitive,” he said.
With that, he said banks in eastern Arkansas have a history of branching into Benton and Washington counties as a way to diversify their loan portfolio which is primarily commercial real estate lending and some business lending in this immediate market.
First National Bank Paragould is regulated by the Office of Comptroller of the Currency and there were no new branch applications on file with the OCC as of Oct. 6, the last time the site was updated.
Dominick said if First National Paragould does occupy the branches it purchased, they won’t be the last financial institution to move into the region now that bank profits are recovering.