Meridian Title moves to Heer’s building

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Last edited 9:08 a.m., Oct. 24, 2023 [Editor's note: The real estate broker's company has been updated.]

Springfield-based Meridian Title Co. has moved one of its offices to the downtown Heer’s building.

Owner Jeremy Burcham said the title company exited the Frisco Building at 3253 E. Chestnut Expressway to relocate earlier this month to 138 Park Central Square, Ste. 102. The company began operations Oct. 9 in the roughly 9,500-square-foot space, he said, adding there’s still new furniture and signage work needed. Burcham estimated it could be early December before the office would be fully furnished.

Burcham said relocation and renovation costs will be around $30,000, noting minimal infill work was necessary for office space previously occupied by health care information technology firm IntrinsiQ LLC, a division of the AmerisourceBergen Specialty Group. He said the title company signed a three-year lease with two three-year renewable options for an undisclosed rate with building owner Edgewood Real Estate Investment Trust, based in Fargo, North Dakota.

Meridian Title is the second company filling out first-floor commercial space this month in the Heer’s building. BRP Architects plans to move by the end of the month to an adjacent suite from its longtime downtown home at 319 N. Main Ave., according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.

“It was not a situation where we were really looking to move. It was kind of a happenstance situation,” Burcham said of opening a downtown office.

Burcham said Lee McLean III of SVN/Rankin Co., who brokered the deal for Meridian Title to move to the Frisco Building in 2021, told him Secure Insurance Group LLC was interested in moving and occupying space on parts of two of the building’s floors. Burcham said his company was leasing 18,300 square feet in the building but only using about half of it. Secure Insurance was interested in a portion of Meridian Title’s space if they were willing to relocate, he said, noting McLean was the listing agent for the Heer’s building commercial space.

“He showed us the Heer’s building and it very much fit our needs, so we were able to make a win-win for everybody,” he said, adding Secure Insurance expects to start infill work at the Frisco Building by early November after Meridian Title fully moves out.

“All of our excess space didn’t pan out the way that we wanted. But that was nothing against the Frisco Building as it is a beautiful space,” Burcham said, adding 25 employees will work out of the downtown office.

Meridian Title ranked No. 1 on SBJ’s list this year of the area’s largest title companies, published in late July. It reported 36 offices and 175 local employees.

Burcham said the company plans to add to its office count later this year. It has locations set to open in the next roughly 30 days in Republic and Kimberling City. Those will follow Meridian Title’s debut in Arkansas, as he said the company in late summer opened an office in Harrison, expanding its service area from Missouri and Kansas.