Building owners rally in face of second setback

by Karen E. Culp

SBJ Staff

What was once to be a gateway to downtown, a redeveloped property right on the edge of Jefferson Avenue and Walnut Street, is now a pile of bricks and rubble.

But not for long, said Dan Scott, partner in the property's redevelopment. The fire-gutted building was further damaged by rain and wind. It was strong winds that ultimately knocked down the building's south wall March 27, three months to the day after the Dec. 27 fire.

Scott, an architect, paired last fall with his acquaintance David Kellett, whose background is in construction, to take on the building nicknamed the Aardvark Building.

When fire gutted the building, the pair persevered, awaiting an insurance settlement to complete the remodeling to turn the large, gray building into retail space and upscale loft apartments.

At that time, depending on the settlement, the partners had an option to either take the building back down to a shell and rebuild from there, or to demolish the existing structure and build a new one, Scott said.

Scott and Kellett had been working to get the building into a shell state, Scott said, and Scott had just finished the new architectural renderings for the building when the harsh wind blew the wall over, he said.

"We were within days of completing the demolition on the building. I had just completed the revised schematic plans for it," Scott said.

The pair were still awaiting a settlement from the insurance company when the wall blew in, Scott said.

When the south wall blew in March 27, the Public Works Department for the city of Springfield then had to take down the east wall and part of the north wall, said Jerry King, acting head of Building Development Services.

"We looked at what was happening and determined that the east wall was in danger, so Public Works went ahead and took down that wall," King said.

Both owners were on the site at the time, and King's department conferred with the two, who also thought it best to take down the east wall and part of the north.

Scott said he hadn't considered the possibility of the south wall's collapse, but he did get concerned when he saw weather reports predicting 60-mph winds for the Springfield area. "I knew the building had withstood 35-mile-per-hour winds without any problem, but these winds were a bit stronger. And it didn't make it this time, as it turned out," Scott said.

King and the owners of the building met the week of March 30. During that meeting, the owners agreed to have a demolition permit secured no later than April 8, King said.

Scott and Kellett plan to have the remainder of the building demolished and a new, one-story structure up by October, Scott said. Southwest Missouri State University had announced previously that it was to have leased the first floor of the building for $9 per square foot annually.

The five-year lease was to begin Oct. 1, according to a release from the university. That agreement stands, said Doug Sampson, supervisor of design and construction at SMSU. Scott's and Kellett's building will house the Faculty Art Gallery and the photo studio that are now in Downtown Hall.

With this recent damage, Scott said he is now assured that there will be a new structure on the site.

"We know we're going to have a new building, and we've got a deadline for getting it built," Scott said.

A block over, on the square, the Heer's Building was also a point of concern. When glass fell from that building recently and damaged a car parked below, the city took steps to keep passersby safe from any repeat occurrences. The city blocked off entry to Park Central West from the square.

The building was placed on the city's list of dangerous buildings, King said. He was expecting a report from a structural engineer on the status of the building the week of March 30, he added.

Because of the concerns of some business owners over the barricading of Park Central West, Brian King, interim director of the Urban Districts Alliance, sent a memo to Jerry King, signed by about 30 people, "expressing their concerns about the street's being closed" and affecting businesses in the area, Brian King said.

He added that he thought there were a lot of "exciting possibilities for that building," and that he expected the revitalization of the Heer's Building to be one of the top three priorities for downtown in the coming months.

Glass panes that were cracked or broken were being removed from the Heer's building the week of March 30.