Contractor turning former BPJ office into strip center

A Springfield contractor is building a retail and office strip center at the former headquarters of insurance agency Barker-Phillips-Jackson Inc.

Tom Morris, owner of Landmark Building and Developing Co. LLC, purchased the 1500 E. Sunshine St. property for an undisclosed amount Dec. 15 from Drury Properties Inc. BPJ moved out of the office in August 2008, and it has been vacant since.

Now, the contractor is performing partial demolition work to prepare the strip center for occupancy by spring, he said.

“The building is ideal to convert it over,” Morris said.

His company received approvals in January and February from the city of Springfield to demolish the interior and colonial-style entrance of the 10,100-square-foot building, as well as raise the roof to 14 feet from 9 feet. No occupancy contracts have been signed for the center being designed by architect H Design Group LLC to house seven tenants, he said.

Barker-Phillips-Jackson moved to its current headquarters, 1637 S. Enterprise Ave., in August 2008, according to Springfield Business Journal archives. The property has a 2014 taxable appraised value of $557,300, according to Greene County assessor records.

Morris said the Sunshine building likely sat vacant for so long because of its relatively low ceilings.

“That’s just a lot of work, and if you don’t know what you’re doing it’s hard to get your mind around it,” he said.