Renasant Bank, headquartered in Tupelo, already has two temporary locations in Starkville, but construction has begun on a new building that will merge the two offices.
The bank opened its doors in Starkville in November of last year, and Division President Tommy Tomlinson said he hopes the new building is a sign of the commitment Renasant is making to Starkville.
“If you look at the standings that we already have in place, and then you look at this new building, I think the commitment will be obvious,” he said. “Go look at the photo at the construction site. This isn’t just your average branch bank.”
The official groundbreaking of the two-story, 16,000-17,000 square foot facility was May 11, with demolition on the site’s previous structures beginning a few weeks prior.
According to Tomlinson, Renasant did its best to give local contractors first dibs on the project, and he said he felt like this was unique in the area.
“Starting with the dirt work all the way to the furnishing of it. Right now at least 90 percent is going to be done by local folks,” Tomlinson said. “A number of our (sub-contractors) were simply given the jobs. There are not many jobs going on like this in the area with the exception of Mississippi State’s campus, but all that is government work, and you are bidding against folks in Alabama and Tennessee and all over that want that job. We just wanted to limit it to our neighbors as much as we could.”
Renasant gave Briar Jones of Jones, Thomas and Associates architectural duties and appointed West Brothers Construction as general contractor on the project.
“Briar Jones has done a beautiful job with the plans,” Tomlinson said. “What we asked of him is to get us a building that would look as good in 100 years as the day we build it. And make it look like it fits in this community.” Tomlinson noted it looks similar to Lee Hall on the campus of MSU.
Project manager for West Brothers, Rob Winklepleck said they have four sub-contractors on site doing some dirt work and laying foundation right now, and the building is on track to be complete by the end of next summer.
The new building, located on the corner of Lampkin Street and Montgomery Street, will undoubtedly add office space, but Tomlinson said Renasant’s two temporary locations are already offering full, traditional services.
“Right now, even in our temp locations, we not only have the traditional type banking services and people here that are experienced and understand customer service. But we also have mortgage lending, trust services, and wealth management services,” he said. “Our desire is to be Starkville and Oktibbeha County’s community bank.”
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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