Great Southern buys former Bank Midwest site

Great Southern Bank has announced plans to relocate its banking center at the Parkcrest Shopping Center in October.

The bank will move from 3961 S. Campbell Ave. to 600 W. Republic Road, where the company purchased property that included a 5,900-square-foot former Bank Midwest. The branch closed in 2010 after Bank Midwest's 38 stand-alone branches and their assets in Kansas and Missouri were sold to Boston-based NBH Holdings Corp.

Great Southern spokesman Brian Eaton said the move is planned to serve an increased customer count at the Parkcrest branch during the last several years.

“Our current Parkcrest location is in our Top 10 busiest locations as far as transaction volumes in our 107-banking center franchise,” he said, declining to disclose the purchase price of the Republic Road location. According to the Greene County assessor's Web site, the 2012 appraised value of the roughly 1-acre site is $1.2 million.

Great Southern's current 999-square-foot South Campbell Avenue branch opened in 1995, and the transition should be quick, Eaton said.

“It was a banking facility already, so we’re just kind of moving in, which is really why we’re going to be able to do it so much quicker than if we had opened a brand new banking center,” he said.

No major renovations are planned beyond retouching the location to match the Great Southern brand, Eaton said.

“Stuff like putting up our advertising posters, our signage, our color scheme – that kind of stuff,” he said.

The new location will have a full-service lobby, safe deposit boxes, a teller area, drive-through lanes, a drive-up ATM and office space for staff, Eaton said.

The nine staff members of the Parkcrest center - including manager Debra Yeager - will be moving to the new location, and there are currently no plans to hire more associates, Eaton said.

Great Southern plans to open for business at the Republic Road location Oct. 1, Eaton said.