Jonesboro, AR – (JonesboroRightNow.com) – Feb. 27, 2025 – As progress continues in preparing for the demolition of the old Citizens Bank building, the City of Jonesboro announced there will be a modified traffic plan in downtown.
The new traffic plan will involve closing a portion of Washington Avenue between Union Street and Main Street. In addition, one lane on Union Street will be closed. This will begin March 5, however, City Communications Director Donna Malone said it was unclear when that traffic pattern would end and added that traffic patterns would continue to change as the project goes on.
The City provided additional updates on the demolition in a Facebook post on Thursday.
The post said the city received verbal approval to tear down the building via wet demolition from the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, however, the City is still waiting on final, written approval before moving forward. Malone said it was unclear when the City would receive that approval.
The City Council voted in January to approve the demolition of the building, planning for a wet demolition. This involves spraying the part of the building currently being demolished with water, preventing any asbestos-containing material (ACM) from becoming airborne. It is projected to cost $3.25 million and take eight to 12 weeks. The building cannot be imploded due to ACM and the building’s structure.
Adam Seiter, executive vice president of operations for Nabholz Construction, the project’s construction manager, told the City Council on Monday he expected demolition to start anywhere from March 7 to March 10. Nabholz is managing the project, while D.H. Griffin Companies is demolishing the building.
In addition, protective plastic has been installed over buildings directly to the north of the 70-year-old building. Malone said this is to protect the buildings from any dust or damage that occurs during demolition. A protection wall in front of First Horizon Bank to protect from any falling debris was completed Oct. 11.
Heavy equipment is still arriving and being assembled this week, and demolition of the brick façade of the north side of the building is expected to start next week.
Malone said after demolition is complete, the site will be cleared of any remaining rubble. However, since the land is privately owned, it is unclear what, if anything, will be built where the building once stood.
“That very visible space in downtown, everyone wants it to look nice,” Malone said. “It’s not going to be left as a pile of rubble. It will be cleaned up; it will be leveled out and it will look nice.”