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Opinion: At 2nd glance, plenty of $1M real estate to go around

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Several years ago, I wrote a column imagining myself as a real estate millionaire with investment dollars to burn. I scoured the market looking for those $1 million buys that could change the local development world or my financial future.

Watching recent commercial real estate listings sent across my news desk piqued my interested again. So, if I had a (another) million dollars, here’s what I could buy.

• I could get into a real estate bidding war for the $5.2 million-listed Remington’s. What’s better than that? Yes, the gargantuan Remington’s building is under contract, but if I could throw more than the current undisclosed offer, I’d get in the game.
 
Fronting James River Freeway, the 30,000-square-foot building sat vacant and available for a year and a half, and officials involved in the offer say this is the first contract. Now, we don’t know with whom yet. So, there’s a wild card at play at 1701 W. Republic Road.

It’s been used as a nightclub and concert venue, as well as for services by current owner Ridgecrest Baptist Church. Remington’s is a go big or go home kind of a deal. I’m already starting to sweat it.

• This one’s off the beaten path – by quite a ways. But the asking price hits the million-mark right on the head. We’re talking lakefront property within Hollister city limits. At 791 Lake Shore Drive, there is a 2.2-acre tract with 152 feet of water frontage zoned for commercial development.

If you float Lake Taneycomo north from Branson Landing, you could dock at the property. But if Kanakuk Kamps appears on your right, you’ve paddled too far. It’s almost directly across the lake from North Beach Park.

Multiple listings note the asking price is for land value only, and there is an old structure on the property not factored in.

If I splurge here, maybe there’s a bed and breakfast in my future. Other than that, it might be a challenge to land on a lucrative idea for the lot.

• I like options in real estate. A $1.3 million building in Nixa’s Fox Hollow Industrial Park would give me the option as a property investor or as an owner occupant should a can’t-miss business opportunity come along. It’s currently a multitenant property with leases in place; 2K Sports Training, Yoked Fitness and Paramount Communications have operated from here, 2160 N. Fox Hollow Drive, west of where the James River crosses Highway 160.

Wait a second – that address is familiar. Yep, it’s the same property that was available for $1.29 million when I wrote the million-dollar column in 2013. The downside: I’m all kinds of curious about the ownership in recent years. The upside: The list price has been reduced by $100,000. I do like a good bargain.

• The Branson area is in the mix again. How about a newly flagged Rodeway Inn right on 76 Country Music Boulevard? I personally run the other direction from country music, but this is business. Let’s take a look at the ROI opportunity at this property, 2425 W. Highway 76.

The $2.1 million listing woos me by noting a steady increase in sales the last three years. There are 148 rooms on three floors. If I step up the marketing game to budget travelers and tap into some group sales, the return on investment could skyrocket. It does already work into the Rodeway reservation system, since the property joined the Choice Hotels brand and changed the flag from Windmill Inn. You might know it from the huge windmill above the entrance, just west of the Tanger Outlets entrance.

Upon further inspection of the Commercial 1 Brokers’ listing, I see it’s priced at 2.36 times the total room sales in 2016. So, that means I’m working with about $800,000 in annual room income. It also indicates I can assume the $321,000 small-business loan. This is good stuff for my pro forma. I’m going to have to pore over the financials some more.

I wonder what they did with that windmill?

• Let’s say I have maybe half-a-mil stashed in an old cookie jar yet to spend. Digital Monitoring Products, Jarden Plastic Solutions and Central States Industrial could use a neighbor. More than 4 acres in Partnership Industrial Center is available.

The lot, which has not yet been platted according to the Sperry Van Ness/Rankin Co. sales brochure, is listed at $392,040, or $2.25 per square foot. As you would expect, it’s zoned heavy manufacturing. According to Greene County assessor records, it’s part of a 15-acre parcel owned by Alltrista Plastics Corp. and where Jarden operates. I think I’ll have to act fast on this one, as there aren’t many PIC plots still left.

• Last but not least, there is some land in Republic ready-made for apartments. At $995,000 for 17.5 acres, according to the SVN/Rankin Co. listing, this is a real interesting scenario. Apparently, an owner had received city approval to develop 144 units dubbed Cedar Park apartments, at 622 W. Hines St.

The price includes the roughly $200,000 value of the construction development plans for the eight-building complex sketched by Pinnacle Design Consultants, as well as the sewer lines that already were installed. The Cedar Place Apartments are adjacent.

I think I’ll wait till spring to turn some dirt – or until I get that million dollars to spend.

Springfield Business Journal Editor Eric Olson can be reached at eolson@sbj.net.

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