Branson commercial real estate sizzles

2014 is shaping up to be a busy year for Branson-area commercial real estate agents and brokers. For Chris Vinton, it has the makings of a record year.

Vinton, owner and broker for Branson-based Vinton Commercial Realty, said he already has sold more properties five months into the year than he did in all of 2013.

His sales include 31 vacant condominiums at Indian Point to a Nebraska developer, a planned subdivision on 17 acres to a Texas developer, a 200-unit storage facility and the Carolina Mills and Waltzing Waters properties.

He also has the $1.5 million, 52,000-square-foot former Playtime Pizza and 220 acres north of town under contract.

But Vinton is not the only one making commercial moves.

The city of Branson appears to have successfully shopped its Factory Merchants Mall, and the Grand Palace is now poised for a new owner.  

Ballparks and beyond
A Chicago development group is proposing a large-scale ballpark project at the site of Branson’s defunct Factory Merchants Mall – aka Red Roof Mall – and the company received a warm reception on May 6.

Ballparks of America presented the project before the Branson Planning & Zoning Commission, which unanimously approved a requested special use permit to operate the development.

The development plan calls for up to 16 replica baseball fields, including dimensional designs of Fenway Park and Wrigley Field, batting cages, practice diamonds, concession and catering facilities, arcades and playgrounds, according to the agenda document. The majority of the existing mall buildings would remain for lodging, food and retail uses, according to the proposal.

The development group – made up of insurance and finance professionals Hamilton Chang, Bradley Snider and Michael and Dennis Chookaszian – was in talks last week regarding the lease of the city-owned land. The contract would require final approval by the Branson Board of Aldermen.

Keller Williams Realty agent Karen Best, who is a member of Branson’s Planning & Zoning Commission, said she voted for the plans and was glad to hear the city’s finance committee approved a 35-year lease on May 15. The Board of Aldermen is slated to give the $24 million project a first reading on May 22 and a vote June 3.

“It’s a great fit for the community,” Best said of the four-phase project.

She said the first phase would comprise six ball fields, and the developers expect to draw 600 visitors to town per week in the summer months. Best said the partners are looking to have the facility up and running by next summer. It is Ballparks of America’s first project.

Factory Merchants Mall closed in late 2011. Simon Property Group bought out its lease in December 2011, giving control back to the city, which owns the 40-acre site. The ballpark plan comprises some 68 acres, which includes the mall and surrounding vacant land at 1000 Pat Nash Drive.

The development plans come after Branson aldermen approved a $39,050 sports-market feasibility study in February 2013, designed to see how the city could take advantage of the property from a tourism perspective, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.

“We feel like the conclusion of that study was, ‘Yeah, the demand is definitely out there,’” said Branson Economic Development Director Garrett Anderson. “We agreed there’s a tremendous demand for youth sports.”

Nearby, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is now actively marketing the sale of the vacant Grand Palace after years of legal wrangling. The FDIC held the loan on the property for three years before foreclosing on it in 2011.

The asking price for the 13-acre site built in 1992 is $5.4 million, according to the FDIC’s listing with Los Angeles-based commercial real estate firm Colliers International.

Locally, the Grand Palace is being marketed by Keller Williams agent Best. She declined to comment on her work for the theater property.

The FDIC became trustee of the Grand Palace in 2008 after note holder Columbian Bank and Trust Co., in Topeka, Kan., failed and closed. The FDIC was named receiver of the bank, including the note on the Branson theater.

The FDIC foreclosed on the note June 29, 2011, the day Tennessee-based Kingdom Wealth Builders LLC agreed to purchase the property for $5.5 million, about half of its $10 million asking price.

FDIC spokesman Greg Hernandez said the third party who bid at the sale was unable to pay the sale price, leading to the foreclosure.

The marketing efforts of the FDIC also were stymied by legal issues surrounding the Branson property.

“The FDIC temporarily reduced its marketing efforts until legal issues were resolved that effectively blocked the potential sale of the Grand Palace,” Hernandez said.

In late 2012, a federal judge dismissed claims made against the FDIC by former property manager Paul Dunn.

Waltzing Waters
The Waltzing Waters and Carolina Mills properties, which were sold together to Fred Hoppe for just under the $1 million list price, will be used for rotating exhibits, according to Vinton. Hoppe, a sculptor with two decades of experience with museums, opened the Veterans Memorial Museum in Branson in 2000.

“We are just excited that we have another great addition to the strip,” Vinton said.

Vinton, who has 15 years of experience in Branson commercial real estate, said he’s encouraged by the interest coming from outside the market, as well as the activity in light industrial properties.

“That really drives everything else in town,” he said.

At Hollister Pointe, for example, he has strong interest in three industrial lots, and one went under contract May 15.

He said selling the Indian Point condos, dubbed The Cliffs – which were developed by Florida-based Argonaut Midwest Holdings Inc. before the recession took hold – is a good sign people are willing to invest in the Branson-lakes area. The bank-owned property was listed for just under $2.5 million.

At a time in the mid-2000s when developers were throwing around $1 billion plans in Branson, The Cliffs were originally planned as 400 condos across 30 buildings, according to SBJ archives.

One of those plans was developer Jim Shirato’s $1.4 billion Indian Ridge in Branson West. Best is now listing the 800-acre failed development sprinkled with half-built houses for $2 million. She said real estate activity has been building in 2014 and first-quarter sales were up 300 percent compared to last year.

“We’ve been very busy,” Vinton said, declining to disclose his firm’s revenues. “Phone calls are up significantly during the last six months across the board – from people looking at restaurants to hotels to theaters.”