East Texas Business

By GREG JUNEK
Business Editor

A Henderson-based bank will open its third Tyler location on Grande Boulevard near Old Jacksonville Highway.

Officials at Citizens National Bank said they hope to start construction of the new branch, near the northeast corner of the two roadways, later this year. Construction is expected to take six to nine months, with a probable opening in late summer 2009.

Brad Tidwell, the bank’s president and chief executive officer, said no street address has been assigned to the lot, but it will be the second lot from the corner along Grande Boulevard.

Tidwell said the anticipated investment for constructing the 6,000- to 7,000-square-foot branch is unknown. It will employ about 12 people, bringing its employment in the Tyler branches to about 20.

An interesting note about the new branch, he said, was that a storefront branch that originally opened at 6880 S. Broadway in 1995 is anticipated to generate business for it.

That was the case prior to the opening of Citizen National’s most recent branch in Cumberland Park.

“Always the plan was we would exit that and move into our new facility,” Tidwell said, referring to the storefront branch and the Cumberland Park branch.

The storefront branch did close, but it recently reopened in anticipation of the new Grande-Old Jacksonville Highway branch.

Tidwell said operations might continue at the original Tyler branch after the new branch opens.

“It’s something we’re going to look at,” he said.

Citizens National also has plans to open a branch in Kaufman later this year. It has a loan production office there, but this will be the first full-service Kaufman branch, he said.

The Kaufman and Grande branches will be Citizen National Bank’s 19th and 20th locations.

The bank employs about 300 people systemwide and also has 26 automatic teller machine locations, Tidwell said. Its assets total about $800 million.