Arvest Bank plans Nov. 12 soft opening for new 25,000 SF banking center in Rogers

Craig Rivaldo, president of Arvest Bank’s Benton County market, says the company’s new 25,000-square-foot banking center on Pauline Whitaker Parkway in Rogers will have a soft opening Tuesday (Nov. 12).

Crossland Construction Co. is nearing completion of the approximately $4.5 million building, which will house 55 Arvest employees.

In addition to traditional staff, the branch will house mortgage and commercial lenders, as well as Arvest Wealth Management and treasury management employees.

The new branch will also feature interactive teller machines (ITMs) and offer customers a more “concierge-type” experience in addition to traditional retail banking. ITMs are essentially ATMs with the additional capability of videoconferencing that allows customers to talk to bankers.

Rivaldo said the new Rogers office will represent a different type of branch within the Arvest system.

“The change is being driven by the adoption of technology that allows our customers the ability to do their banking when, where and how they want,” he said. “For example, the [drive-thru] lanes will have one commercial lane, and the retail lanes will have [ITMs]. During the hours of 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, when a customer pulls up to the machine, they can interact with a live teller who will fulfill their transaction.”

Rivaldo said having an ATM with live tellers is a first for Arvest in Northwest Arkansas. Live tellers will be off-site, either in Harrison or Lowell.

Arvest has ITMs at two locations in Little Rock and another in Waldron, a result of the Bear State Bank acquisition last year.

“Every market is not conducive to having an ATM with live tellers,” Rivaldo said. “Pinnacle [Hills] is a prime spot to do this.”

Arvest Benton County is the largest of the company’s 14 locally managed markets. It has 24 banking offices in the county, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), more than the next three banks (Bank OZK, First Security Bank and Grand Savings Bank) combined.

When the new building is complete, Arvest will partially vacate its nearby Rogers branch at 5201 W. Village Parkway, part of the Village on the Creeks (VOC) development. Arvest owns the three-story building in a partnership with architectural and engineering firm Hight Jackson. Arvest occupies the first two floors, and Hight Jackson is on the third floor.

Rivaldo said various shared services of Arvest will continue to occupy the first and second floors of the VOC building, but those areas won’t be open to the public to serve customers.

Arvest will, however, maintain an ATM in the parking lot for retail banking customers.

The Village on the Creeks branch is the largest of Arvest’s seven Rogers offices. It held $245.2 million in deposits as of June 30, according to the FDIC.