Matt Miller Co. expands Joplin holdings

A multimillion-dollar deal with Joplin businessman John Howsmon gives Matt Miller Co. the Christman Building and four other surrounding buildings at the intersection of Fifth and Main streets. The Springfield company cracked the Joplin market with a downtown real estate purchase in May.

Matt E. Miller, president and CEO, called the Christman Building “beautiful” compared to other projects his firm has undertaken.

“It’s got great views and it’s in a perfect location – all the ingredients,” Miller said of the Joplin building at 501 S. Main St..

The Matt Miller Co. has staked its reputation on rebuilding and renovating older historic downtown buildings in Springfield. Wilhoit Plaza, for instance, is a 100,000-square-foot block on Pershing that has an older visage but an inside that’s been renovated to include 32 modern lofts and 60,000 square feet of retail space. Miller said that’s just one example of what he hopes to do with the five-story Joplin building.

“We realized that (Joplin’s) downtown is where Springfield was five years ago,” Miller said. “We can’t wait to be part of that resurgence.”

Miller said he and colleagues met with Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr and Joplin Community Development and Planning Manager Dick Largent when scouting out the new market.

“We were looking for a city in Missouri where we could benefit from our having been through the ‘school of hard knocks’ of historic tax credit, historic redevelopment,” Miller added, noting experience working with the Department of Economic Development and the National Parks Service.

Main Street Place

Matt Miller Co.’s multimillion-dollar plans will turn the Christman Building into Main Street Place with ground floor commercial space and 30 “urban” lofts above, similar to those the company completed at the Founders Park Lofts, 331 E. Water St. in Springfield.

The first floor of the main building will have approximately 3,000 square feet for a restaurant and banquet facility, 1,800 square feet for a coffee or sandwich shop and 1,000 square feet for office space with front-door parking. Miller said he also hopes to entice some new stores to locate on Main Street.

The lofts, he said, should be complete by summer 2008. The commercial spaces have yet to be given a completion date.

Market analysis

David Glenn, owner of The Glenn Group, a commercial real estate brokerage firm, represented Howsmon. Glenn also will market the commercial aspects of the building once complete. He said it’s refreshing to have Miller’s company investing in Joplin.

“All of a sudden he’s become quite the property owner in Joplin,” Glenn said, referencing another building Miller recently purchased at Sixth and Main. “And why not Joplin? This is a beautiful building right smack in the middle of downtown. Loft apartments are kind of the trend across the country, and these will be upper-scale apartments that will attract both a younger and older crowd. The other lofts downtown have all filled up and there’s still a demand.”

Glenn said the building was on the market for four years after the Howsmons decided to transsform Howsmon’s Office Supply to an Internet-based company and offer direct shipping. Glenn said Miller’s company was under contract for more than a year, waiting for a number of contingencies to fall into place before finalizing the sale.

“They were waiting for it to be listed with the (National Register of Historic Places) for the tax credits,” Glenn said. “For the past four years it’s basically been a five-story warehouse. This is a perfect example of changing a beautiful old building into something for a great new use.”

Miller said he hopes this project will re-energize Joplin’s historic downtown Main Street.

“We are thrilled to be working with a city that is so supportive of this kind of project,” he said. “The energy that has been put into reviving downtown Joplin is what attracted us the most.”[[In-content Ad]]