JONESBORO, Ark. (AP) - A Jonesboro church has offered to buy a former fairgrounds site just north of the Craighead County city.
The Rev. Stan Ballard of Nettleton Baptist Church says his church agreed to buy the 77-acre fairgrounds, an exposition building, two livestock facilities and a maintenance building between Jonesboro and Brookland.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (https://bit.ly/1q0l0YR ) reports that the Craighead County Fair Association filed for bankruptcy in October 2014. Bankruptcy court approved the liquidation of the fairgrounds last fall because it was more than $9 million in debt.
The property was appraised for about $13.3 million in 2013. After the bankruptcy, the property was listed it at $8.5 million.
Ballard declined to disclose the sale price. He said the deal is expected to close in mid-April.
“It’s a lot of property, but it’s a nice setting,” Ballard said. “There’s plenty of parking space and we won’t have to build from scratch.”
The church bought 22 acres south of the fairgrounds earlier this year but is not intending to sell that property.
Ballard said that he’d like to convert the nearly 114,000-square-foot exhibition building into a chapel by September. He hopes to lease the fairgrounds land to the fair association so that it can continue to host the annual event there.
“We’re 99 percent sure we will have a fair there this year,” said Michael Cureton, fair association president. “We will be there at least for the short term. We’re starting to plan to see what the future holds for the long term.”
The district fair attracts about 60,000 people each September and has been held in Jonesboro for 60 years.
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Information from: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, https://www.arkansasonline.com
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