Chambers Sells Bentonville Branch, Not Leaving the Market

Danville-chartered Chambers Bank is making some moves in Benton County.

The lender recently sold its 3,818-SF branch — its only Bentonville office — at 1100 S.E. Walton Blvd. to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. for $3.7 million.

Walmart coveted the property, no doubt, for its proximity — the bank sits next to its new concept store, a drive-thru supermarket called Walmart Pickup-Grocery.

Chambers isn’t leaving the Bentonville market, however. On the contrary. The bank is now operating under a multi-year lease agreement with Walmart to remain as the tenant, but it’s looking at other sites to construct a much larger banking center in the near future.

Chambers vice president J.R. Meeks confirmed that property transaction, and added the bank simply has outgrown the space.

“It is and has been a great location, we’ve just outgrown it,” he said. “We’re in no immediate rush to move, but we are looking for a spot to build a larger facility that would expand our staff and expand our footprint.”

According to the most recent FDIC data, Chambers’ Bentonville branch had deposits of $23.3 million, which ranked 20th out of 28 banks doing business in Benton County.

A new building, Meeks said, would be three times as large as the current facility, which has nine employees. The property was built in 2006 for Parkway Bank, but it was closed early in 2009.

Chambers had been leasing the space from Parkway since establishing its branch there in January 2010, but bought the building outright in December for $1.86 million, according to property records.