And a New Bank, Too

The fancy new multiplex theater isn’t the only development planned for that piece of property. Two acres of it will be used to bring another bank to the area.

First Security Bank of Searcy, which has assets of $395 million, has bought the land and plans to build a branch bank on it. It would be the 14th branch of the bank and the first in Northwest Arkansas.

First Security Bank is owned by the Rutledge family, which includes Reynie Rutledge, Jim Lindsey’s brother-in-law. Reynie Rutledge is chairman and CEO of the bank.

So, did Rutledge get one of those fabled brother-in-law deals? Not on your life. His bank paid the same $6 per SF as anyone else would have to pay. For two acres, that equals about $522,720.

That’s not to say that Lindsey didn’t give a family member some special consideration. The smallest lot among the more than 60 acres that Lindsey owns along Joyce Boulevard is seven acres, substantially larger than the tract he is selling to Rutledge.