Council considers bringing back Kearney Street redevelopment plan 

The Kearney Street redevelopment plan, passed by Springfield City Council in 2018, expired last year, and now council appears poised to reintroduce it. 

Amanda Ohlensehlen, the city’s director of economic vitality and workforce development, reported at a Tuesday council study session on several successes with the plan, which offered real property tax abatements for redevelopment projects, as well as some continuing opportunities. She noted at the meeting that the time is right for a new plan. 

The level of abatement that had been offered under the expired plan was for 100% of the increase in assessed value for a period of 10 years. 

The corridor is approximately 3.5 miles long, extending from North Albertha Avenue, located just west of Hobby Lobby and Kansas Expressway, to a point just east of Glenstone Avenue. 

Ohlensehlen said the plan was developed in order to study economic development incentives that might be used to revive retail activity along the Kearney Street corridor. It included market research and analysis, site prioritization planning, redevelopment strategies and incentive planning. 

Most of the progress under the expired plan happened at or near the intersection of Kearney Street and Glenstone Avenue on the eastern side of the corridor, including the following: 

• Whataburger and Chick-fil-A restaurants located at the site of the former Springfield Inn motel
• BigShots Golf, a driving range, and Long Drive Center, a commercial building, at the site of a former Kmart department store
• Glendalough Conference Center and DoubleTree Hotel, as well as a fronting retail center on the northwest corner of the intersection replacing the former Buckingham Smokehouse  Bar-B-Q

At the other end of the corridor, MMC Fencing & Railing placed a new showroom and warehouse west of the Kearney Street intersection with Kansas Expressway. 

Ohlensehlen noted that developers have not expressed recent interest in the tax incentive program. 

“The redevelopment plan has not been broadly utilized throughout the entire corridor,” Ohlensehlen said. “It’s kind of been bookended on either end.” 

She said the reasons might be vague or difficult-to-navigate redevelopment standards or a lack of awareness of existing incentives. Additionally, real property tax abatement alone may not be enough to drive redevelopment. 

“There are obviously additional costs and risks with any development,” she said. 

She added that private development costs versus anticipated financial benefits can be challenging for rehabilitation or adaptive reuse of existing sites. 

“There may be significant upgrades that also need to occur to comply with the redevelopment plan standards,” she said. 

An additional challenge is the fact that Kearney Street is not a city-controlled roadway but rather is administered by the Missouri Department of Transportation. The thoroughfare is also designated as Missouri Route 744. 

A physical conditions analysis of the corridor from the previous plan, prepared by the city Department of Planning and Development and consultant PGAV Planners, showed the following challenges: 

• Over 70% of buildings in fair to poor condition
• Fewer than 6% of buildings in excellent condition
• Majority of buildings over 35 years old
• 635 curb cuts along corridor, or an average of one every 25 feet
• One-third of property saw no change in assessed valuation from 2006 to 2017

The 2017 study showed an annual retail opportunity of $95 million, particularly in food and beverage, clothing and electronics and appliances. 

Expired plan 
The ordinance approving the plan sunset last year, Ohlensehlen said, and its tax incentive would need to be reauthorized by council. 

“In a way it is good timing for that,” she said, noting that the city has since adopted the Forward SGF comprehensive plan and is updating the comprehensive city code.  

She said staff recommends reestablishing the Kearney Street Corridor Redevelopment Plan, a move that would first require an update to the blight report to conform with a new blight definition from the state of Missouri. Public engagement with property owners and other stakeholders within the district also would be necessary, she said. 

“Long term, this could be looked at as part of a broader city initiative to promote redevelopment and reinvestment along the corridor,” she said. 

She pointed out that Forward SGF has as one of its top 10 initiatives the beautification of the city’s corridors, including improved planning, right-of-way management and multimodal access. 

“Promoting reinvestment in Springfield’s commercial corridors and our gateways is a key initiative out of the economic development chapter of Forward SGF,” she said. 

Ohlensehlen added that Forward SGF also prioritizes quality of place and increasing accessibility and transportation connectivity throughout the city’s corridors to employment centers and businesses. 

Councilmember Brandon Jenson asked for verification that city staff would not be overburdened by taking on the updated study and that there would not be an opportunity cost in asking them to take on the project with everything else that is on their plate.  

“An average of one major project every single year now seems to be a success rather than something that indicates that there would need to be a revision or an update to the resources that are available,” he said.  

He added that some recent slowdowns could be attributed to economic factors. 

Ohlensehlen said staff is equipped to do this, since they would not have to write the full plan. 

Councilmember Monica Horton said neighborhoods adjacent to the corridor should also be prioritized in planning. 

“We need some sort of neighborhood planning adjacent to this corridor that will also allow for neighbors and businesses to be able to engage in the planning of the entire ecosystem, not just the streets,” she said. 

Steve Childers, director of planning and development, said four of the city’s 34 established neighborhood service areas are adjacent to the corridor, and one of these, Robberson, is third on the city’s priority list. Another, Tom Watkins, is No. 11. 

“We do have a process; it has been set out in Forward SGF how we prioritize these things,” he said. 

Councilmember Derek Lee said he hoped the city would not spend too much time reexamining the plan before it is approved. 

“If somebody wants to apply for some of these, they can’t get them right now,” he said. “I would encourage us as we look at doing things maybe do it by amendment instead of spending a lot of time.” 

The plan can be amended later if needed, he said. 

Ohlensehlen said speed would be a priority, especially since bringing the plan back does seem to be the consensus of council.