Bark Yard plans $2.2M investment in east-side facility

The Bark Yard dog park concept is expanding after launching nearly four years ago in east Springfield.

The 3110 E. Cherry St. business venture is more than doubling its square footage to 16,000 square feet with the nearly 10,000-square-foot expansion that's estimated to cost $2.2 million, said co-owner Tommy Buterbaugh.

"As our day care and boarding customer base continues to grow, we must ensure that our facility has the requisite capacity to accommodate that growth and to best serve the interests of all our stakeholders – most importantly, our clients," Buterbaugh said via email. "The additional space will reduce or eliminate the need for clients to make reservations for day care and provide more peak boarding capacity during busy summer weekends and holidays."

An early 2026 completion date is planned for the expansion, said Buterbaugh, noting Construct LLC is serving as general contractor for the project designed by Kinetic Design and Development LLC. He noted the expansion would be added to the south of the current facility.

Buterbaugh said space that had been used as an off-leash dog park would be repurposed to serve as part of the expansion area. The off-leash dog park recently closed.

"The decision to close the off-leash park was driven primarily by our significant need to expand our day care and boarding facility with the only remaining buildable space on our property being occupied by the park. As with all commercial projects, ours came with significant requirements from the city beyond the building itself in terms of storm water drainage, utility placement, parking minimums and emergency vehicle accessibility," he said. "It quickly became clear that an addition of any size was going to necessitate the closure of the park."

Bark Yard also had operated a bar patio that was last open for the 2023 season, Buterbaugh said, noting the company closed that "underutilized" portion of the business as a cost-cutting move.

Buterbaugh and co-owner Blake Gammon opened the Bark Yard concept with a 6,000-square-foot building and 3.5-acre dog park in May 2021, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.