65 Marketplace expanding retail options in Ozark

An Ozark development three years in the making is beginning to fulfill its developers' vision. 65 Marketplace already dotted with retail, banking, health care and other professional business is unfolding into the mixed-use property co-developer Steve Stinnett had hoped for.

S.L. Stinnett Co. Inc. and TriStar Business Communities of St. Louis began commercial development on 72 acres in June 2000. When complete, Stinnett said the development will have an intrinsic value of more than $50 million.

Liberty Bank, Missouri Furniture and more than a dozen businesses with strip center retail fronts, including Barnett Family Dental, were the first to lay claim to the land at the northeast corner of Highway 65 and Route J.

On the horizon is a Price Cutter grocery store set to open in the spring, Braum's, Bojangles' Famous Chicken n' Biscuits, an apartment complex, a Valvoline oil change shop and a gas station/convenient store.

Stinnett said nearly 60 percent of the land is sold, totaling $7.4 million.

Development agreement

As the dollars settle into the development and business transactions occur, the city of Ozark expects to reap capital gains from sales taxes. But Ozark city administrator Collin Quigley said any financial impact hasn't been determined.

"Everybody thinks instantly of sales tax and revenue," Quigley said. "I don't have any kind of figure on what that's done yet. I will be looking into that."

According to the development agreement, 1 percent of the city's sales tax generated within 65 Marketplace goes to the developer for a period of five years, or until the full infrastructure cost $536,174 is reached. The city receives 1.5 percent of all sales taxes.

Quigley said the city is reimbursing the developer for improvements to North 17th Street, which was relocated, and the new traffic signal installed at the 65 Marketplace entrance.

"I don't think there will be a problem for him recouping those costs with the new businesses coming online," Quigley said. "They still have a lot more land and more possibilities."

Stinnett said about 30 acres remain available.

Residential mix

Quigley believes the commercial development will open the door for a burst of residential growth in Ozark as well.

It's starting within 65 Marketplace with Springfield area developer Bob Winters' $14 million, 192-unit apartment complex. Winters, who already has constructed a retail center there and will add two more centers, is planning to build the eight-building complex north of Price Cutter.

"I thought there was a need in Ozark, but it had to have access to Springfield," Winters said of selecting the location.

Winters also is bringing in a restaurant, as franchise owner of the North Carolina-based Bojangles' Famous Chicken n' Biscuits. He is building another Bojangles' in Republic in the outlot of the new Wal-Mart Supercenter.

However, Stinnett is still seeking a sit-down restaurant and a hotel to solidify the development. He said it will help to get the Price Cutter open, because he considers it the anchor tenant.

When it is open, Stinnett will take on a project of his own: a 25,000 square-foot retail shopping center adjacent with the grocery store.

"We're looking forward to getting Price Cutter open," he said. It had originally planned to be open for the holidays. "We were hoping they'd be open a lot sooner than (next spring)."

Stinnett said a couple other pieces of land are under contract, but have not closed.

Other 65 Marketplace tenants are: Domino's, Comet Cleaners, Family Entertainment Movie Gallery, Cingular, ERA Jones-Rutherford Realtors, Blimpie, Country Clutter, Christian County Closing, Island Breeze Tanning and Glacier Capital.