A nearly 20-year-old bank company based in Springfield, Missouri has announced plans to build a new facility within a 15-acre business park in Grand Junction.
The OakStar Bank was launched in 2005 and has since built new branches in its home state as well as Kansas. In 2021, it moved into Colorado with the establishment of loan production office in Grand Junction.
Now OakStar wants to build a 13,000 square-foot full-service bank within the borders of the Riverfront at Los Colonias Business Park. The project will see the construction of a two-story building with an atrium, and airy lobby, and office space.
As envisioned, the new building will also house both restaurant and retail space.
“The presence of OakStar Bank will contribute to new community engagement for the property,” Curtis Englehart, the executive director of the Grand Junction Economic Partnership, said of the bank’s decision to build in the business park.
In a statement published in the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, Englehart continued, “We anticipate additional activity happening within the restaurant/retail and business park’s development because of this.”
The larger Los Colonias Park measures some 130 acres and runs along the banks of the Colorado River adjacent to downtown Grand Junction. City officials agreed to carve out around 15 acres of that site specifically for the creation of a business park, a joint $30 million public/private project.
The business park has since seen the development of several businesses, including, most prominently, the Bonsai Design company, which designs and constructs aerial adventure parks.
Plans currently call for construction of the new OakStar Bank building to begin in the spring of 2024, with a general completion date of late 2025.
By Garry Boulard
