Cornerstone Bank opening branch in Cassville
Cornerstone Bank president Jason Tennant is pictured above at the closing of the bank’s new Cassville property on December 12 with auctioneer Donnie Stumpff and his wife, Teresa.
January 10, 2018
Charlea Estes-Jones
The recent sale of a 2.2 acre tract of commercial property will mean more banking options for Barry County. Cornerstone Bank, a six-branch bank based out of Eureka Springs, Ark., recently purchased the land located at the corner of Highways 76/86 and 37 in Cassville.
Jason Tennant, president of Cornerstone Bank, said they had been looking at Cassville as a possible expansion site for the Arkansas-based bank for awhile. Tennant said, “When this property came up for auction and sale, we just thought it was a great opportunity and thought it was a great location.”
He added, “We are obviously excited to become a part of the community. We didn’t just fly into this and say, “Hey there is a sale, let’s buy this property.’ No, we’ve been studying all things Cassville to see if it worked into our bank.
“We are a $255 million community bank. We don’t go into markets just because. We want to feel that we’ll be successful there in our brand of banking. We hope we can, and we think we can. We like competition. Good competitors will be good for the community, and I don’t want to seem like I’m saying anything negative about the banks there. There are good banks there; they’re solid and strong. But we feel like we can do well there with the base of southwest Missouri clients that we already have.”
While Cornerstone purchased the land for their future branch, the time line for that addition to the community is not established. The bank purchased the land at a Stumpff Realty and Auction Service auction on November 4, then closed on the property on December 12. Tennant said, “We don’t have a date set. We have a couple of other markets that we are expanding in right now and building in. So, we’re concentrating on those.
“We have begun to work in the market and are doing a bank-without-a-building type thing there already because we’ve got a lot of connections. So we’re already trying to do business there, but as far as building a building or getting a temporary office. We do want to do it sooner rather than later, obviously. We wanted to secure the property and know that’s where we want to be in Missouri and in that location. We don’t have a definitive date.”
When asked why Cassville was a target area for the bank’s expansion, Tennant said that the market is perfect for the focuses of Cornerstone, “Cassville has always been an agriculture community. We are a strong agriculture lending bank, as well as home lending. It was seen as a market that our brand of banking would make sense in, and it makes sense for us and for the community up there, as well.
“The reason we chose Cassville is because one, we have a solid client base in southwest Missouri. With locations in Berryville and Holiday Island, we already have clients there, and southwest Missouri has always been a target for us for our footprint. We have different markets that are ideal, specially the communities around the lake.”
Tennant said that Cassville is also a smaller community, which is where Cornerstone likes to focus its branches. He explained, “We are very much and very proud of a community bank. We want to keep it that way. Our decision makers are here and our board is local people. Our bank is 106 years old this year and still owned by the same family. Our CEO is a member of that family and the chairman of the board is his father. We are very community-oriented and very family-oriented.
“So we really get active in the organizations in the community, whether it’s real estate, schools, commercial. We try to be very broad based and adapt to whatever community we’re in, and we’ve proven that with all of our locations.”
As plans progress, more information will be available, but Tennant said that specific information about the Cassville location is in the future. “When we do build, we will build a structure. It will be a very nice facility. We actually pride ourselves in our facilities that we build. Right now, we’re building a nearly 10,000 square feet facility in Harrison, Arkansas. We really try to make sure our facilities are something the community is proud of.”
One of the rumors circulating after the announcement that Cornerstone Bank would be making its home in Cassville was regarding how much land is in the tract that the bank purchased and whether there will be more development there. Tennant said there isn’t a plan to add retail spaces or a strip mall at this point, but they are not eliminating that as a possibility, either.
He said, “We have not decided on that yet. There is room for that type of thing, but we don’t have a definite. We did that in Harrison and it was in our plans to have a retail center because we have room for it. But we haven’t made that decision for Cassville yet.”
Cassville, once built, will be the seventh branch for Corner Stone Bank and the first in Missouri. Based in Eureka Springs, there are two locations in Eureka Springs as well as locations in Harrison, Huntsville, Green Forrest, Berryville and Holiday Island.
Charlea Estes-Jones
The recent sale of a 2.2 acre tract of commercial property will mean more banking options for Barry County. Cornerstone Bank, a six-branch bank based out of Eureka Springs, Ark., recently purchased the land located at the corner of Highways 76/86 and 37 in Cassville.
Jason Tennant, president of Cornerstone Bank, said they had been looking at Cassville as a possible expansion site for the Arkansas-based bank for awhile. Tennant said, “When this property came up for auction and sale, we just thought it was a great opportunity and thought it was a great location.”
He added, “We are obviously excited to become a part of the community. We didn’t just fly into this and say, “Hey there is a sale, let’s buy this property.’ No, we’ve been studying all things Cassville to see if it worked into our bank.
“We are a $255 million community bank. We don’t go into markets just because. We want to feel that we’ll be successful there in our brand of banking. We hope we can, and we think we can. We like competition. Good competitors will be good for the community, and I don’t want to seem like I’m saying anything negative about the banks there. There are good banks there; they’re solid and strong. But we feel like we can do well there with the base of southwest Missouri clients that we already have.”
While Cornerstone purchased the land for their future branch, the time line for that addition to the community is not established. The bank purchased the land at a Stumpff Realty and Auction Service auction on November 4, then closed on the property on December 12. Tennant said, “We don’t have a date set. We have a couple of other markets that we are expanding in right now and building in. So, we’re concentrating on those.
“We have begun to work in the market and are doing a bank-without-a-building type thing there already because we’ve got a lot of connections. So we’re already trying to do business there, but as far as building a building or getting a temporary office. We do want to do it sooner rather than later, obviously. We wanted to secure the property and know that’s where we want to be in Missouri and in that location. We don’t have a definitive date.”
When asked why Cassville was a target area for the bank’s expansion, Tennant said that the market is perfect for the focuses of Cornerstone, “Cassville has always been an agriculture community. We are a strong agriculture lending bank, as well as home lending. It was seen as a market that our brand of banking would make sense in, and it makes sense for us and for the community up there, as well.
“The reason we chose Cassville is because one, we have a solid client base in southwest Missouri. With locations in Berryville and Holiday Island, we already have clients there, and southwest Missouri has always been a target for us for our footprint. We have different markets that are ideal, specially the communities around the lake.”
Tennant said that Cassville is also a smaller community, which is where Cornerstone likes to focus its branches. He explained, “We are very much and very proud of a community bank. We want to keep it that way. Our decision makers are here and our board is local people. Our bank is 106 years old this year and still owned by the same family. Our CEO is a member of that family and the chairman of the board is his father. We are very community-oriented and very family-oriented.
“So we really get active in the organizations in the community, whether it’s real estate, schools, commercial. We try to be very broad based and adapt to whatever community we’re in, and we’ve proven that with all of our locations.”
As plans progress, more information will be available, but Tennant said that specific information about the Cassville location is in the future. “When we do build, we will build a structure. It will be a very nice facility. We actually pride ourselves in our facilities that we build. Right now, we’re building a nearly 10,000 square feet facility in Harrison, Arkansas. We really try to make sure our facilities are something the community is proud of.”
One of the rumors circulating after the announcement that Cornerstone Bank would be making its home in Cassville was regarding how much land is in the tract that the bank purchased and whether there will be more development there. Tennant said there isn’t a plan to add retail spaces or a strip mall at this point, but they are not eliminating that as a possibility, either.
He said, “We have not decided on that yet. There is room for that type of thing, but we don’t have a definite. We did that in Harrison and it was in our plans to have a retail center because we have room for it. But we haven’t made that decision for Cassville yet.”
Cassville, once built, will be the seventh branch for Corner Stone Bank and the first in Missouri. Based in Eureka Springs, there are two locations in Eureka Springs as well as locations in Harrison, Huntsville, Green Forrest, Berryville and Holiday Island.