Arvest has new branch in works in Bentonville

Benton County’s most visible bank is making plans to add another branch.

Fayetteville-chartered Arvest Bank has filed a large-scale development plan to build a 2,800-square-foot building on Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard in southwest Bentonville. The 1.18-acre lot is near a Walmart Neighborhood Market at the I Street intersection. Arvest bought the land in November 2015 for $495,000, a purchase price of $9.63 per square foot.

The Bentonville Planning Commission will consider the bank’s development plan on May 5 at its regular meeting.

“Even as our customers continue to conduct more and more banking via online and mobile platforms, we’ll always look for growth opportunities,” said Brad Crain, president and CEO of Arvest Bank’s Benton County market. “This new branch represents that sweet spot. It’s a fantastic location for retail banking but also will feature a higher degree of technology, including [an] ATM with live tellers in the drive-thru. As always, we want to meet our customers in the ways and spaces they prefer.”

Crain said the office will be staffed with five employees, and a target opening date is January 2021.

According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s (FDIC) most recent Summary of Deposits Report, 26 banks operate a combined 96 branch locations in Benton County.

Arvest Bank has the largest footprint with 24 branches in the county, six of them in Bentonville. First Security Bank and Bank OZK are next with eight branches each in the county, followed by Grand Savings Bank with seven branches.