While other commercial real estate property management and development companies may have laid low during the recession, Warren Davis Properties looked for new opportunities.
The company was founded by Warren Davis in 1994 after he retired and sold his family’s 59-year-old Bolivar automotive service shop, Orval Davis Tire Co.
“My father and I used to buy commercial properties on holidays, evenings and weekends for extra income. It was kind of a hobby,” Davis says, “After I sold the company in Bolivar, I enjoyed it so much, I wanted to proceed in that area.”
In 2008 and 2009, Davis Properties added 11 properties to its portfolio totaling more than 1 million square feet of space. Its purchases during those two years include notable properties such as Elfindale Center and the Circuit City building – and they came with a measure of risk.
“We don’t do new construction,” Davis says. “We’re buying buildings that are usable or we’re buying buildings that need to be completely renovated.”
With her husband, broker Patrick Harrington, Davis’ daughter, Kim Harrington, manages the day-to-day operations of the firm that today oversees 38 properties representing 2.4 million square feet. Harrington and Davis declined to disclose the company’s financials, but both say revenues have risen steadily through the years.
The economic downturn left an excess of office properties on the market, says Davis, and as a result, he began to look for opportunities in the industrial market.
In August 2010, the company took one of its biggest risks to date when it purchased the roughly 1-million-square-foot Solo Cup plant near Evangel University.
In January, the company secured an agreement with the city of Springfield to issue up to $65 million in bonds for redevelopment of the property and equipment purchases.
Harrington says working with Springfield City Council to secure the ability to use revenue bonds would help the company market the Solo Cup property.
“It is beneficial in helping us to find a tenant. I think once this is up and running, it will mean very good things for the community,” she adds.
Taking on that property was a risk for Davis, but he’s been down that road before.
In 1994, he purchased the Woodruff and McDaniel buildings in downtown. The following year, he bought the iconic Heer’s building.
He no longer owns those three properties, which didn’t flourish under the typical Davis Properties model, but that didn’t sour Davis on taking chances.
The company’s business model entails finding usable older properties, renovating them and securing long-term clients, an approach that can boost other local businesses. For example, Missouri State University filled Davis Properties’ former Bank of America office property on Park Central Square, and the university’s staff and students now can easily patronize businesses around downtown.
This May, Davis Properties purchased the 65,000-square-foot United Healthcare building at the southwest corner of West Bennett Street and South Kansas Expressway. While the insurance firm occupies 45,000 square feet, there is still 20,000 square feet to lease – but filling that space is just business as usual for the company.
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