Liberty Bank of Arkansas Breaks Ground on New Center

Liberty Bank of Arkansas held a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday afternoon at the future site of its new Northwest Arkansas banking center. The two-story, 22,000-SF building will be located at the corner of Joyce Boulevard and Vantage Drive in Fayetteville.

“This has been in the planning for about five years,” said regional president and COO Howard Hamilton said. “Now we feel the time, as well as the opportunity, is right.”

Liberty, which operates 45 banking centers statewide, leased what was supposed to be temporary space in Springdale before the national recession hit. That delayed plans for the new Fayetteville facility, which Hamilton called a full-service commercial and retail bank.

The new center is expected to open in November 2013. It will house about 35 employees, including about 10 new hires.

Hamilton said recent job growth and increased loan demand in Northwest Arkansas are part of what led Liberty chairman and CEO Wallace Fowler to decide now is the time to go ahead with the expansion.

“It’s as much feel as anything else … and that’s one of Mr. Fowler’s strengths,” Hamilton said. “He’s shown that he has a pretty good feel for these things.”

Hamilton also said Liberty’s deposits have grown “probably 20 to 30 percent” over the last 18 months.

“We feel like things are starting to come back and we want to be ahead of the curve,” he added.

Brackett-Krennerich Architects designed the building, while Nix Construction Co. is the general contractor. Both companies are headquartered in Jonesboro. Crafton Tull is handling some of the engineering work.

Liberty Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Bancshares, Inc. and has assets in excess of $2.8 billion.