Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – The Finance and Administration Council Committee on Tuesday forwarded to the full city council a resolution to purchase land where the former Citizens Bank building once stood.
According to the resolution, the city would purchase three lots of land owned by Laurel Park LLC for $750,000.
In addition to the city buying the property, the resolution would end litigation involving a lien placed on the lot where the building once was. In early September, the Jonesboro city council voted to place an over $3 million lien on the property to recoup money spent on the building’s demolition.
Laurel Park LLC, owner of the land where the building once was, appealed the decision in Craighead County Circuit Court later in September, court records show.
“We want to keep the community and city council in full regards of how the process is going as we move forward,” Mayor Harold Copenhaver said. “Obviously, we invested a tremendous amount of ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funding in that lot, and with that, then whenever the opportunity on negotiations would come forth, I made council aware that we’d bring those opportunities to this committee and hopefully move forward to council.”
Brian Richardson, chief administrative officer for the city, said city officials were looking into what would be the best “long-term” solution for both the city recovering the funds used to demolish the building, and also developing the property.
He said there were multiple ways in which the issue could have moved forward. If the city declined to purchase the property and continued litigation, that could result in a win or loss for the city and would be a longer process.
“We’ve got legal expenses, we’re possibly having to pay other legal expenses, and there’s no lien on the property,” Richardson said if the city lost the case. “I think both of those cases are probably months to years, so most likely inactivity on that property while that all gets sorted out.”
Other possibilities Richardson mentioned were the city buying the property and then selling it to a private developer, or the city buying it and developing it into a “city asset.”
Committee member David McClain had concerns about the property’s cost, saying he believed the city would be overpaying to end litigation. He asked city attorney Carol Duncan what costs would be if the city let the issue continue to play out in court, to which she responded that, while it would be impossible to estimate final legal expenses, it would be expensive.
The deal would need to close out by Dec. 29, according to both the real estate contract and Matthew Coe, who is the legal representation for Laurel Park.
Joe Hafner, who chairs the committee, and committee member Brian Emison mentioned they were “on the fence” about the offer.
Ultimately, council members voted to forward the matter to the full city council, giving them more time to consider the officer. McClain was the only committee member who voted against the resolution.
Part of Main Street was initially shut down in September 2024 when a bulge was noticed on the side of the former Citizens Bank building. It was condemned in December.
The city council voted in January to approve the building’s demolition. Demolition officially began in March, and all streets affected by the project reopened to traffic in May.