Arkansas Federal Credit Union of Jacksonville has purchased 1.79 acres near the northwest corner of Maumelle Boulevard and Paul Eells Drive in North Little Rock for $575,000. The company plans to build a branch there.
The sellers were Elrod Real Estate LLC, led by David Elrod, and Lilac LLC, led by Andy Collins.
AFCU President and CEO Rodney Showmar told Arkansas Business that it's one of several construction projects for the bank.
He said the new full-service branch could open in late 2019 or in 2020, but it's too early in the process to estimate how much it will cost to build. A groundbreaking has not been set.
"It fits into our future plans, and we've had our eye on Maumelle for quite some time, so this was the right place at the right time," Showmar said.
The new branch will be modeled after a Hot Springs branch — the credit union's "No. 1 priority" — that is underway now. AFCU has an end cap location in Hot Springs but not a freestanding location, which is what the branch on Maumelle Boulevard will be.
The Hot Springs project is estimated to cost more than $2 million, including the price of the land. The design for it is about 80 percent complete, Showmar said, and a groundbreaking is expected in October. It expects to open the Hot Springs branch late in the first quarter or early in the second quarter of next year.
AFCU is also remodeling its branches in North Little Rock and downtown Little Rock. It has budgeted about $750,000 for each of those projects.
"What we're finding out — the same thing everybody's finding out in the finance world — is the facilities, the physical branch locations, are becoming less about transactions and more about relationship-building," Showmar said.
New interiors will offer more places to sit and be designed in a way that allows for workers to act as consultants for customers.
The credit union also purchased a building on Markham Street in Little Rock, across from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. That project is expected to cost about $1.2 million, including the initial purchase and remodeling.
Apartments Bought
Wellington Acquisitions LLC, an affiliate of Maxus Properties of North Kansas City, Missouri, has purchased the 176-unit Wellington Apartments at Chenal at 15000 Chenal Pkwy in west Little Rock for $17.8 million.
The seller was Wellington Prinwood LLC, an affiliate of Aspen Square Management Inc. of West Springfield, Massachusetts.
Parcel Purchased
RLW Properties LLC of Jonesboro, led by Dr. Robert Warner Jr., has sold a 3.05-acre commercial parcel near the southeast corner of Schaer and 15th Streets in North Little Rock for $226,843.
The buyer was 924 W. 15th St. LLC of Little Rock, led by James “Bubba” Wood.
Building Sold
Pulaski Heights Baptist Church of Little Rock has sold a 1,936-SF Leon Bonner Fields Centre at 4000 Woodlawn Drive in Little Rock to Terminal Partners LLC of Little Rock, led by Val Hansen, for $152,500.
The church used the building for outreach ministries. It most recently housed families of and/or patients receiving treatment at local hospitals.
