Firstar Bank to build $3.5 million office in Fort Smith

Sallisaw-based Firstar Bank is building a $3.5 million bank office near Chaffee Crossing in east Fort Smith that will be home to 20 employees when opened in April 2019.

Construction is set to soon begin on the 12,000-square-foot multi-level bank that will have three drive-thru lanes, a drive-up ATM, offices and two conference rooms. The 1.25-acre site is at 6200 Massard Road. The land for the bank expansion was acquired in 2014 for $345,000. Fort Smith-based Architecture Plus designed the building.

“This significant investment represents our commitment to being a banking leader in Fort Smith,” Lance Smith, Firstar’s regional president, said in a statement “At Firstar, we offer service and flexibility that are difficult to find in today’s banking environment. Our new facility will consist of banking professionals who cater to their clients and provide customized service for their unique needs.”

Smith joined the bank in 1999 and now manages a region that includes Sebastian and Sequoyah counties. Prior to joining the bank, he worked at Van Buren-based USA Truck.

Firstar now has a Fort Smith office in the GreenPointe Shopping Center on Rogers Avenue. That facility will remain open “for the foreseeable future,” Smith said.

Federally-chartered Firstar Bank, which employs 150, has seven offices in Fort Smith, Muskogee, Roland, Sallisaw and Tulsa. The bank, formed in 1999, has experienced double-digit growth in recent years. The bank had $572.657 million total assets at the end of 2017, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., up almost 17% compared to 2013. Total deposits stood at $483.246 million at the end of 2017, up 15% compared with 2013.

In terms of deposits, Firstar is ranked ninth in the Fort Smith metro area with $172.883 million in deposits, or 3.73% of the market share. The bank ranked just ahead of Farmers Bank of Greenwood and behind Central National Bank of Poteau.

Firstar income in 2017 was $10.389 million, up 21.3% compared to 2016.