United Bank starts renovation of Springdale headquarters

United Bank has started a renovation project of its Springdale headquarters at 2600 S. Thompson St.

Bank president and CEO Nathan Gairhan said the project started the first week of April and involves updating the 8,200-square-foot building’s interior space. The structure was built in 1975.

“It was really time for an update,” he said. “We aren’t doing anything to the exterior, but these are needed updates to the interior, so it’s more attractive to our customers and our team.”

Nabholz is the general contractor. The project is expected to take 90 days. A total cost was not disclosed.

While the building is closed, United Bank has put up a modular banking unit in the parking lot of the front entrance. The facility, open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., also has a drive-through window.

Customers who have safe deposit boxes inside the bank have either taken possession of them, or have been notified they are temporarily relocated to another United Bank branch.

About 30 employees are displaced because of the project. Most of them are working from a makeshift operations hub in an adjacent office building the bank also owns. Other employees are working temporarily at the bank’s other locations. Gairhan is working from the Rogers location on West Walnut Street.

“It’s business as usual,” he said. “The plan is to keep growing business. We’re sure not going to take three months off.”

United Bank was started in 1978 by Don Pitts, and has had the same ownership since it was founded. It currently has four branches — two in Springdale, one in Fayetteville and one in Rogers — and will start construction later this year on a branch in Bentonville. United Bank also operates a loan production office in Fort Smith.

As of Dec. 31, United Bank had assets of $174.8 million, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. That’s up 16.2% from the same time in 2015.