Plans for another student-housing project near Missouri State University made progress at Springfield City Council’s Feb. 10 meeting as council approved a redevelopment plan in a long-blighted area west of campus.
Council voted 8-1 in support of Miller Commerce LLC’s request for a 10-year tax abatement at the corner of Bear Boulevard and Holland Avenue. Councilman Craig Hosmer – who has criticized the city’s approval of tax abatements – cast the lone vote against the development.
Miller Commerce plans to tear down existing apartments on the intersection’s southwest corner to build a student-housing concept dubbed The Q Place. The multimillion-dollar project – across the street from Hammons Student Center parking and a block away from JQH Arena – calls for 29 apartments comprising 116 bedroom units individually for lease.
“We’ve seen these abatements work downtown during the past 10 years, turning the area into the economic engine that it is today,” said Matt E. Miller, founder of Miller Commerce.
Miller Commerce has had a hand in developing $100 million in projects and has previously secured Chapter 99 abatements with student-focused apartments Deep Elm, The Jefferson and The Monroe. The Q Place calls for 10 years of property tax abatement on new improvements, a possibility in blighted areas under Chapter 99 of state statutes.
Springfield Economic Development Director Mary Lilly Smith said the value of the abatement is $397,383 during the next decade. She said taxing jurisdictions would continue to collect taxes based on the current assessed value of the two properties – nearly $525,000 combined on two parcels equaling three-fourths of an acre.
At the Jan. 27 council meeting, Hosmer reiterated his desire for a council committee to review and update its tax abatement policies.
A meeting had been planned Dec. 20, but it was rescheduled to Feb. 14, Smith said. Hosmer has said the city approves abatements far too frequently.
According to Springfield Business Journal research, 13 projects have secured tax abatements in blighted areas across the city since mid-2011.
At February’s meeting, no council members spoke to the redevelopment plans before voting.
“It’s always good when there is substantial support like that,” developer representative Shawn Whitney said of the 8-1 tally. “Council has been very supportive of our projects. You can’t please everybody, but we don’t need to please everybody.”
Whitney, an attorney at Husch Blackwell LLP, said properties in previously blighted areas are good candidates for Chapter 99 10-year abatements. The 25-year, Chapter 353 abatements require developers to re-establish blight, as well as furnish costly tax-impact analyses and establish redevelopment corporations.
Miller said the seven- to nine-month construction schedule should begin in late summer after existing tenants vacate the space.
He declined to estimate costs, stating final designs were in the works.
Miller Commerce LLC plans to begin construction by late summer on The Q Place student housing complex at the corner of Bear Boulevard and Holland Avenue.
CVB budgetBrad Danzak, vice president of operations at Rolling Oaks Hospitality and Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau board treasurer, asked council to amend CVB’s fiscal 2014 budget to reflect current and projected operational changes.
The bill, which is scheduled for a vote Feb. 24, would increase this year’s operating budget by $47,613 to $2.93 million.
Recommended by City Manager Greg Burris, the budget adjustment would allow the CVB to add a staff position for social media marketing; implement revisions and upgrades to its website; produce a customer service training video for frontline hospitality employees; and install a new sign for the CVB’s Route 66 Information Center.
Danzak said the budget committee, for which he serves as chairman, and the full CVB board reviewed and approved the request.
The day after council’s meeting, the CVB announced Walter Watts’ hiring as interactive media manager. CVB President and CEO Tracy Kimberlin said money would be moved from the bureau’s advertising budget to cover Watts’ position should council not grant the budget adjustment.
Walnut Lawn roundaboutCouncil approved a $348,953 bid by heavy highway contractor Hartman & Co. Inc. to reconstruct the two-way stop at East Walnut Lawn Street and South Maryland Avenue, just west of Cox South hospital.
The lone bid submitted to the city since bidding opened Jan. 21, Hartman’s bid was roughly $26,000 below the engineer’s estimated cost for the project.
No members of the public commented on the proposal.
The project design would ease traffic flow in the area, make stormwater improvements and create a bicycle connection for the city’s Link Project.
It is funded through the eighth-cent transportation sales tax for multimodal improvements.
