City negotiates $3M Heer's sale

According to a term sheet negotiated with St. Louis historic renovation firm McGowan|Walsh LLC, it looks as though the beleaguered redevelopment project’s a go – again.

McGowan|Walsh has agreed to purchase the dilapidated downtown structure for $3 million and close the transaction by Oct. 1, while the city has committed at least $1 million to redesign Park Central Square using ideas from a series of public workshops.

The term sheet, which is on City Council’s July 2 agenda, also stipulates that McGowan|Walsh lease the former department store’s ground floor to Mike Shannon’s Steaks and Seafood Restaurant, a St. Louis-based upscale sports bar and fine-dining restaurant.

Mary Lilly Smith, the city’s economic development director, said firm principal Kevin McGowan is still studying the feasibility of a boutique hotel on the eight-story building’s upper levels. McGowan, who did not return calls for this story, previously told Springfield Business Journal his firm would prefer to renovate Heer’s as a hotel, rather than convert the building into condominiums.

McGowan’s proposal has reinvigorated a project saddled by major delays last year when previous developer Vaughn Prost, of Jefferson City, missed a series of financing deadlines and relinquished control of Heer’s when faced with foreclosure. Prost, who had planned a mix of class A office space and luxury condos for Heer’s, bought the building from Warren Davis Properties for $2.2 million in 2004.

McGowan|Walsh became the lone developer in the running to redevelop Heer’s after another St. Louis firm, Restoration St. Louis, withdrew its bid in early April. Owners Amrit and Amy Gill never officially commented on their company’s withdrawal, but others who had spoken with the Gills said the couple was frustrated with the slow pace of the selection process and perceived partiality toward McGowan|Walsh.

Restoration St. Louis had hoped to reinvent Heer’s with a mix of loft condos and apartments, a lower-level banquet facility with a restaurant and bar, a rooftop garden and observation deck in the building’s distinctive tower and possibly a boutique-style bowling alley in the basement.

The Gills also had said they were prepared to buy and renovate the Woodruff and McDaniel buildings on Park Central East in conjunction with the Heer’s project, but that offer also was taken off the table.

McGowan|Walsh’s proposal calls for an upscale boutique hotel or for-sale loft condos overlooking a spruced-up square, Mike Shannon’s on the ground floor, and a banquet hall on the top floor, which would include an all-glass eighth-floor addition with a walk-out viewing deck. In a previous interview, McGowan said his firm took a cue from the Gills and will explore the possibility of a basement bowling alley.

Smith said the city isn’t attached to either concept – hotel or condos – and will defer to McGowan.

“We want things to be market-driven, so whichever one really holds the most chance of success for him is what we want,” she said.

Square deal

The city’s commitment of at least $1 million to redesign Park Central Square is also spelled out in the term sheet, Smith said. Those funds – acquired through a matching Federal Highway Administration grant – include a $150,000 contract with Springfield architecture firm Butler, Rosenbury & Partners Inc. to facilitate public input on the square’s imminent facelift, said Assistant Public Works Director Phil Broyles.

BRP principal Tim Rosenbury said his firm is partnering with New York City-based Projects for Public Spaces Inc. to organize the workshops, the first of which should be later this summer.

BRP hasn’t started design work, but the end goal is to ensure that downtown’s centerpiece is “functional, shared and accessible,” Rosenbury said.

“We want to avoid temptation to go into design before we have a true understanding of what the project is really about,” he said.

Rosenbury said he expects design to begin in earnest after a series of public forums through late summer and into fall. One ground rule: The square won’t resemble one of its previous incarnations.

“The square has had many configurations over its long life,” Rosenbury said. “Our purpose will not be to recreate the square in any sort of historic motif.”

If council approves the term sheet, city staff will draw up a more detailed redevelopment agreement with specific timelines for design and construction on Heer’s and the square, Smith said.

Smith said she hopes to have the final contract back to council in late July or early August. The city’s low-interest acquisition loan for Heer’s was originally supposed to be paid off by June 30, but council recently extended the deadline to Oct. 18 to allow more time to negotiate the building’s sale to McGowan|Walsh.