Great Southern purchase highlights downtown activity

For Great Southern Bank, and several other businesses downtown, what’s old is new and what’s new is old.

The bank has announced plans to move its downtown branch at 430 South Ave. into some familiar digs: the eight-year home of clothing boutique Staxx at 331 South Ave. Great Southern occupied the Staxx building for 31 years, 1955–1986, and now is renovating the space with the help of Morelock-Ross Builders Inc. Great Southern purchased the roughly 20,000-square-foot building at South Avenue and Walnut Street from former Springfield Mayor Tom Carlson for an undisclosed amount, according to Kris Conley, the bank’s director of retail services.

The move is among several downtown real estate activities, including several bars and a nonprofit relocation.

Sense of nostalgia
Great Southern’s Conley said he’s pleased the bank has a chance to renovate and bring a branch into its former center of operations.

“As Great Southern grew, we outgrew that building,” Conley said.

He said the 1980s move into the seven-story structure at 430 South Ave. served the bank well for many years, until it too became too small. In 2003, the bank began building its current operations center on South Glenstone Avenue near St. Louis Street. Last October, the bank moved its insurance services out of the third floor of 430 South Ave. to 2925 E. Battlefield Road, leaving only the downtown branch on the first floor. With its lease up in March 2013, Conley said its former headquarters, with drive-thru access, became the ideal location for a new branch.

“For what we need now, that space works well, and it gives us an opportunity to go back to the place where the majority of our roots are,” Conley said. “Really, all we need downtown is just a retail bank location. And so, that space made sense again. It’s kind of cool and very nostalgic to go back to where we spent so much time originally.”

Bank officials expect to move into 331 South Ave. during the first quarter.

Staxx owner Meghan Chambers told Springfield Business Journal in June she was asked by Carlson to move from the 2,100-square-foot space the store had occupied since 2004 ahead of the Great Southern purchase. Staxx has since relocated to a 3,400-square-foot location in the French Quarter shopping center on East Republic Road. Carlson and business partner Mark Gardner will continue to operate Mid America Management as a tenant out of the building, according to SBJ archives. Carlson did not return calls for comment by press time.

Night scene
South & Walnut Bar & Grill, Dublin’s Pass, Vintage Nightclub and Scotch & Soda are four bars with plans in place to make a splash on the downtown scene in the coming months.

Joshua Widner, a former bartender at the Mudlounge, has partnered with Andrew Heilman to bring a prohibition-era cocktail lounge dubbed Scotch & Soda to 310 South Ave., the former site of Christian-based social venue The Front Porch.

Widner said the bar could open by the end of September or later this fall.

“Our identity, our branding is dark, damp, elemental with a lot of brick, a lot of concrete. It’s a 1920s–1930s cocktail lounge – very Hemingwayesque,” Widner said.

The operators plan to rotate a new cocktail menu each month, with up to 15 drink varieties. Widner declined to disclose startup or renovation costs for the 2,700-square-foot space, but he noted two private investors were backing the plans.

Entrepreneur Paul Sundy, known for his roles in Big Whiskey’s American Bar & Grill and Parlor 88, is working with five partners to open a second location for Dublin’s Pass Irish Pub, at 317 Park Central East.

Though Sundy declined to disclose revenues or lease terms, he said activity at Dublin’s Pass at 2767 W. Republic Road led the owners to pursue a second site. Sundy said the 4,300-square-foot downtown site was a good fit for the partners’ needs.

“We are huge fans of downtown as a whole. We feel like it has a lot of great things to offer, and this is a natural progression for our brand,” Sundy said, noting opening events are scheduled Sept. 28–29.

Jay Hickman, co-owner of Ernie Biggs piano bar, is using a $45,000 Springfield Finance & Development Corp. loan to renovate the Three Sisters building, 301 Park Central East. The work is making way for Randy Gildehaus’ plans to open in October a bar tentatively called Vintage Nightclub. Next door at 307 Park Central East, renovations are under way to convert Icon nightclub to Intensity Nightclub & Lounge with plans to open Sept. 14.

A couple of blocks to the south, South & Walnut Bar & Grill has signage up and infill work in motion at the former Bugsy Malone’s karaoke bar at 400 South Ave.

Anonymous donor
Nonprofit Rare Breed Youth Service, a division of The Kitchen Inc. that serves homeless and high-risk youth ages 13–20, is planning a move to the old train depot at Main Avenue and Olive Street.

Currently at 215 S. Campbell Ave., Rare Breed coordinator Loni Brewer said the move is made possible by donations from an anonymous donor. She said the donor, who was aware of Rare Breed’s interest in leasing the former depot from the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, purchased the 301 N. Main Ave. building for the outreach group and is funding renovations by Rio Contractors LLC.

“I would love to thank them, but they don’t want anybody to know who they are,” Brewer said.

She said Rare Breed should be in the new location by the end of October. The move will give the organization room to grow and partner with groups such as Ozarks Technical Community College, which will offer GED test classes. Brewer said the number of youths served by Rare Breed has essentially doubled to 88 per day last month.

“Now, we’re at the point where we are talking with different groups who are wanting to donate their time and energy to come and paint the building. So, we are getting to pick out paint colors and fabric samples with the kids. The kids are really involved at this point, and they are getting really excited,” Brewer said.

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