Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – What began as a project to revitalize a downtown Jonesboro building has become a tribute to a late business leader and the employees who stayed with his company.
The Stem-Kibler family has been working for several months to restore a 15,000-square-foot building located at the corner of Main Street and Monroe Avenue.
The building, now named the “SWS Building,” will serve as a hub of operations for Construction Network, Inc. (CNI), as well as real-estate company Visions 2000 and AWN, LLC, the Jonesboro franchisee of Tommy’s Express Car Wash. There will also be several offices available for rent.
The building was named after former CNI president Sean Stem, who died on Jan. 4, 2021, due to a plane crash. CEO Ryan Kibler said Sean took great pride in old buildings and restoring them, having participated in some building committees for the city.
Hayden Stem, Sean’s son, owned the building and was trying to figure out what to do with it. The building was then sold to Kibler and George Stem, with the original purpose being to revitalize a building downtown. They eventually decided that dedicating the building to Sean would honor his legacy and what he did behind the scenes for the city.
“When Sean passed away in the plane crash, none of the employees left. They all stayed, and I thought this would be a good way to honor them and honor Sean because most of them had been with this company for 20-plus years, and Sean meant a lot to these people,” Kibler said.
The restoration project began in April 2025. Kibler said one of the hardest things about the project was putting a slide in from the second floor of the building to the first floor, making sure that three corporations could operate in the same building. He added that some old architecture inside the building was reutilized.
“We kept some of the tin roof and some of the office. We got the beams exposed, the brick exposed. We mimicked the upstairs. The big, tall doors with transoms in them. We kept that,” Kibler said.
Kibler said work on the upstairs portion of the building is currently being finished, which is where Visions 2000 and AWN, LCC’s offices will be located, while CNI’s office will be downstairs. That work is expected to be wrapped up this week. He added that an upstairs venue is being considered, allowing people to sit out and relax while working.
Kibler added that an open house is planned for the property in 90 days.
As for future projects, Kibler explained CNI is looking into building an indoor baseball facility for Arkansas State University. He added that the company is always looking to reinvest in the community.
“We try to do everything we can for this community, because this community has done a lot for us,” he said.