Council gives green light to Heer's developer

Springfield City Council on Aug. 27 approved an agreement for the city to sell the downtown landmark to St. Louis developer McGowan|Walsh for $3 million. The sale must close within 60 days.

Under the agreement, lead developer Kevin McGowan has until Sept. 1, 2008, to begin redeveloping the building into either a boutique hotel or condominiums, or else he must pay $1,400 per day in fines up to $250,000.

McGowan also agrees to provide a letter of intent from St. Louis-based Mike Shannon’s Steak and Seafood Restaurant, which plans to open a location on the building’s ground floor.

In return, the city will invest $1 million in renovations to Park Central Square. That work must start by Aug. 1, 2008.

McGowan also has the option to request a wide range of incentives for the redevelopment project, including community improvement, transportation development and tax increment financing districts, and property tax abatement.

The potential incentive causing the most controversy, however, is McGowan’s opportunity to request half of the 2 percent transient guest tax, from which proceeds usually go to the Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau. The city has agreed to not actively oppose the request.

While several hotel owners have expressed concern over allowing McGowan to recoup some of the hotel tax, CVB Executive Director Tracy Kimberlin told council that the CVB supports the redevelopment agreement as it stands.

“Should McGowan|Walsh decide to build a boutique hotel and request the hotel tax credits, the CVB board will consider the request carefully,” Kimberlin said at the meeting. “However, our support of the development agreement should not be interpreted as support for the use of lodging tax incentives in general.”

McGowan has until Oct. 1 to decide which tax incentives he will pursue.

He told the council members that they should not think city staff gave up too many incentives in the negotiations.

“We do work in a great many cities across Missouri and in other states, and … we have received better deals from other cities,” McGowan said. “You have an excellent staff here; they did not give anything up easily, and what we came to is a very fair agreement for the city and for us as well. “

Art expansion

Council also approved a $3.3 million expansion project for the Springfield Art Museum.

Museum Director Jerry Berger said expansion funding comes from private bequests and donations.

“The art museum has been planning an expansion since we built the Musgrave wing and finished it in 1994,” Berger said, referring to the Jeannette L. Musgrave Wing, the last major expansion to the nearly 50-year-old facility.

The 10,000 square feet of new space would add three galleries and a library to the museum. The addition also would be climate-controlled, creating a suitable environment to house the city’s art collection, which Berger conservatively estimated to be worth more than $5 million.

St. Louis-based Paul Marti Associates Architects and Springfield-based Marshall-Waters-Woody Associates Inc. performed design work. Council approved a bid from Rich Kramer Construction to build the addition, which Berger said should be complete by the end of summer 2008.

Also on the agenda

• Council approved new Multi-Family Development Location and Design Guidelines.

A 15-member task force put together the new system, which awards points to multifamily residential proposals for five criteria: neighborhood compatibility, land-use accessibility, connectivity analysis, road network evaluation and design guidelines.

A higher point total allows a development to have more housing units. Bonus points also are available if a development is near a commercial activity area, provides a bus shelter and turnout, attains Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification or contains affordable housing.

• Council also voted to extend the administrative delay on the construction, placement, location and relocation of storage containers.

Council considered a bill during the Aug. 13 meeting that would have required permits for all on-site storage trailers and would have limited the number to one container per 10,000 square feet of floor space for industrial and retail businesses.

Numerous businesspeople, however, complained that the proposal was too restrictive.

The administrative delay gives city staff additional time to meet with business owners and reach a compromise on the issue.

New Chapter for Heer’s

What: Springfield officials and developer Kevin McGowan’s firm, McGowan|Walsh, have finalized a redevelopment agreement for the Heer’s Building on Park Central Square.

So What: The $3 million sale removes one of the last obstacles for redevelopment of the historic building into either a boutique hotel or luxury condominiums.

What’s Next: McGowan now has until Oct. 1 to finalize his incentive requests.[[In-content Ad]]