City Beat: Jared Enterprises seeks blighted status on Country Club Center

With six property owners of a 60-year-old shopping center unable to reach a consensus on funding facade and infrastructure improvements, the majority owner is turning to the city for help.

Curtis Jared of Jared Enterprises, one of the owners of the aging Country Club Center, is seeking a blighted designation for 4.1 acres at the southwest corner of Glenstone Avenue and Bennett Street. The move would pave the way for establishment of a community improvement district to raise $1.16 million in sales taxes for improvements.

The proposal – agreed upon by four of the six owners – was introduced at a public hearing at Springfield City Council’s March 11 meeting.

Jared, president and chief operating officer of Jared Enterprises, said facade, parking lot, walkway and back-alleyway improvements are needed at the 52,800-square-foot center, which is fully occupied except for the former Smillie’s Market space owned by the Jared family. Jared said while the grocery store has been vacant since it closed last summer, Price Cutter parent Pyramid Foods is paying on a lease for the roughly 20,000-square-foot space.

Jared said four of the owners have signed a petition of support for the proposal that would create the Country Club Center Community Improvement District and raise sales taxes by 1 cent on the dollar for up to 25 years or until the cost of improvements is covered. The proposed district, which includes a cross-access road between Bennett and Portland streets, also would cover Consumer Credit Counseling Services adjacent to Country Club Center.

Property owners who signed the petition on file with the city are Country Club Center LLC, which is owned by the Jareds and claims more than half of the center; Fisk Properties LLC, home of Electric Voodoo Tattoo; K&B Leather LLC, aka Springfield Leather Co.; and Consumer Credit Counseling Services. Jared said Woodrow-Anders LLC, which owns 1445 S. Glenstone Ave., the site of Cosmic Fish, also supports the CID. The two property owners, described by Jared as passive investors, not interested in creating the CID are Aspen Properties LLC, 1449 S. Glenstone, home of Caly Nails; and J Properties LLC, 1451 S. Glenstone, the site of All Breed Pet Grooming.

Springfield Economic Development Director Mary Lilly Smith said CIDs are usually created to fund public improvements, not to improve the properties of private ownership groups.

“This district is a little bit different than anything we’ve done in the past because they are requesting a determination of blight. The purpose for that is that state law allows for the use of CID revenue on private improvements if there is a declaration of blight,” Smith said, noting there are currently a dozen CID districts established in the city.

She said under state law, remediation of blight serves a public purpose, and if council agrees, the district could be established.

Blighted conditions that exist on the properties include obsolete platting, deteriorated walkways, uneven payment, a lack of cross-access easements and the presence of asbestos, according to Smith. She also said there were several instances across the state, mostly in the St. Louis area, where developers and property owners had sought and received blight declarations followed by new CIDs to fund improvements.

Mayor Bob Stephens questioned the need to use public funds to move forward with private improvement plans.

“I noticed on the way home that Glen Isle, The Plaza and even the Fremont Center on Battlefield seemed to, during the last two to four years, have undergone a complete face lift. Those [owners] didn’t come to us to establish a CID, correct?” Stephens asked Smith, who confirmed they had not. “They just absorb it as a cost of doing business.”

Stephens asked Smith if she thought other business and property owners would come forward with requests if council approved the Country Club CID.

“I think we would see some others come in,” Smith said.

“If you look at some of our corridors like Glenstone and Kearney, for example, we have a lot of aging shopping centers, a lot of aging retail, and some property owners may see this as an opportunity to revitalize their centers.”

According to Smith, as long as at least 51 percent of the property owners within the proposed area sign a petition to establish the district, council can approve it.

Jared said after the meeting the CID option was explored because he couldn’t get all of the property owners to agree to pitch in on improvements to the center built in the 1950s.

Jared said in the last decade he’s discussed the idea of a fund to cover improvements.

“If I had the entire center, I could do the renovations over time, but I don’t,” said Jared, whose family once operated a Consumers market at the site. “We’ve tried to acquire them, but you can’t force people to sell out.”

While acknowledging the opposition to private developers benefiting from increased sales taxes in such political subdivisions, he noted community improvement districts have helped forward projects such as Academy Sports and Hy-Vee.

“No one is forced to shop at the center. We are the ones who feel confident this would work,” Jared said.

Funding for the changes would be financed privately, Smith said, with sales tax revenues reimbursing expenses should the district be established.

No members of the public spoke against the proposal, which has been recommended for approval by city staff.

The bill is scheduled to receive a second reading and vote at council’s March 25 meeting.[[In-content Ad]]