Great Southern Bank is relocating its downtown branch to the building that formerly housed clothing boutique Staxx.
Great Southern, which currently operates a branch it leases from G&S Holdings LLC at 430 South Ave., is planning a first-quarter 2013 move just down the street to 331 South Ave., a roughly 20,000-square-foot building the bank purchased from former Springfield Mayor Tom Carlson for an undisclosed amount, said Kris Conley, Great Southern director of retail services. The sale closed Aug. 31.
For Great Southern, the move is also a return.
"We were in that building from 1955 to 1986 before we moved to the location we're in now," Conley said. "We're going back to where we were for 31 years."
Great Southern also formerly owned and occupied the entire 430 South Ave. building, but sold it in 2003 as the company made the transition to the Great Southern Operations Center near Glenstone Avenue and St. Louis Street. Conley said the bank still leases space on the first and third floors of the downtown building, but last November, Great Southern Insurance moved out of the third floor to East Battlefield Road. Now, Great Southern is running out its lease where it operates a branch on the bottom floor.
Conley said Great Southern had been in negotiations with Carlson for about five months. Carlson and business partner Mark Gardner will continue to operate Mid America Management as a tenant out of the building. The 2012 appraised value of the property is roughly $474,000, according to the Greene County assessor.
Conley said Morelock-Ross Builders Inc. is serving as general contractor for the renovation of the property, which includes a drive-thru accessible via South Avenue that exists from when Great Southern formerly owned the building. He declined to project renovation costs.
In June, Staxx owner
Meghan Chambers told Springfield Business Journal she was relocating her store, but not because she wanted to move from where she had operated since 2004. Chambers said she was informed by Carlson she would need to vacate the 2,100 square feet of downtown space to make way for the new owners' plans. She has since moved Staxx to 3,400 square feet in the French Quarter shopping center on East Republic Road.
Conley said Great Southern was in communication with Chambers throughout the process.
"Meghan, prior to this, was an excellent customer of ours, and after this, she's still an excellent customer of ours," Conley said, pointing to a
testimonial by Chambers.[[In-content Ad]]
