Arkansas developer turns up Springfield, Branson sites

Little Rock, Ark., developer and business owner Mike Pierce is constructing strip centers at two intersections on Battlefield Road in Springfield, along with a third on Highway 76 in Branson, and plans are being developed for a fourth project in northeast Springfield.

Hickory Hills site

Springfield City Council on Sept. 24 approved a request to rezone about 44 acres of land at the northeast corner of U.S. Highway 65 and Chestnut Expressway, including the site of Hickory Hills School, as a general retail district.

Pierce, who is a Papa John’s Springfield franchisee and owns the South Glenstone Avenue land where Chick-fil-A and Red Robin Gourmet Burgers restaurants operate, purchased the school and surrounding land in 2006 and is leasing the building to the district through the end of the 2008–09 school year.

Cherie Alderson, director of financial services for Springfield R-XII Schools, cited student safety concerns as the main reason to move the school, combined with an increased interest in developing surrounding property for commercial use.

She said the district has purchased land at Division Street and Farm Road 193 and building design plans are under way.

The current Hickory Hills site will most likely be replaced with boutique-style shops and eateries, while the area to the east of the school is expected to house larger retail users.

Full plate

Pierce also is working on two separate retail strip centers, at Battlefield Road and National Avenue and Battlefield and Highway 65, and a third in Branson, according to Mike Mellinger of Mellinger Commercial, the listing agent for the three properties.

Battlefield and National, formerly the site of James River Grill, will house a 10,000-square-foot center. Mellinger said an undisclosed “national retailer” already is signed on for a third of the center, listed on city building permits as costing about $680,000.

The plan is to have the property built and ready for infill by December, with a February opening date, Mellinger said.

Bill Dreiling, the James River Grill owner who closed the restaurant in June 2005 citing ingress and egress difficulties, expects that visitors to the retail center would face the same challenges.

“If whatever goes into that property requires traffic to be successful, it’s going to be a difficult row to hoe,” he said, noting that he hasn’t done any research to discover if a retail business is better suited there.

Mellinger said that visibility of the site outweighs traffic concerns and added that there has been “a ton of interest” in the site.

“Yes, there are some ingress and egress issues with the site – it’s not the easiest site to get on or off of,” Mellinger said. “But it’s such a high-traffic corner that they’re willing to accept those challenges to get the visibility. Everyone knows Battlefield and National. This project started because a tenant wanted to be at that corner.”

Traffic count figures from the city show about 68,000 cars traverse the Battlefield and National intersection daily, making it the city’s fourth busiest intersection.

Earl Newman, the city’s assistant director of public works for traffic engineering, said busy intersections are always a balancing act.

“Access is always a concern when you’re smack on the corner of a busy intersection; sometimes you’d like to be a little bit farther down,” Newman said. “But as far as visibility goes, you can’t beat it.”

West and south

Pierce also is developing the site of the former Country Kitchen restaurant, recently demolished at East Battlefield and Highway 65, into a retail development. Mellinger said the $1 million project, which should be ready for infill by February, also has received commitment from an unnamed tenant. (Click here for a rendering.)

Traffic counts show that 47,000 cars travel through that intersection daily.

A similar project, at the intersection of Highway 76 and Wildwood Drive in Branson, is slated for completion in spring, in time for tenants to be open for the 2008 Branson show season.

Little Rock company MDH Builders is the general contractor for all three of Pierce’s centers, while Republic designer James O’Donnell is the architect for each. [[In-content Ad]]