Council mulls first 100-lot subdivision since '08

A rezoning of some 37 acres adjacent to Hickory Hills Country Club could pave the way for development of Springfield’s first 100-lot subdivision since the Great Recession.

A proposal for the second phase of the Hickory Hills subdivision landed on City Council’s desk Feb. 23 to the excitement of city staff members.

“That’s a significant indicator of an uptick in our economy,” Springfield Planning and Development Director Mary Lilly Smith told council members.

Property owner Hickory Land Co., comprising a handful of investors including managing member Jim Hutcheson, is asking the city to rezone part of the group’s 75-acre planned development. Currently undeveloped land, Hutcheson said the investor owners would extend the 44-lot first phase of Hickory Hills.

The rezoning request seeks to move about 30 acres to single-family residential land and 7-8 acres to general retail. The plans before council are not associated with Hickory Hills Country Club, but the property is adjacent to the golf course and extends north to Chestnut Expressway, east of U.S. Highway 65.

With council approval, Hutcheson said the ownership group would be prepared to break ground as early as the fall.

“We want to get the project shovel-ready,” he said, noting the owners have not yet received bids for streets and utilities.

Charlyce Ruth, CEO of the Home Builders Association of Greater Springfield, said the development plans are big for builders.

“Everybody’s caught wind of it,” she said, noting builders’ excitement from the possibility of constructing within city limits. “Builders are getting very concerned about the scarcity of lots.”

Recent large-scale subdivision announcements have been few, apart from two underway by Ron Stenger Cos.

The company is developing the 56-unit Overland Heights subdivision in southwest Springfield, as well as 82 acres west of the Lakes at Wild Horse off of East Division Street. Planned over three phases and five to six years of development, the northeast Springfield subdivision is designed with over 100 lots.

Extending into Greene County, Ruth said seven subdivision plans representing nearly 340 lots are under review or have been recorded by county officials this year. The submitted plans span another 15 lots in Marlborough Manor to 101 lots in Stenger Cos.’ Hickory Valley.

“I’m hoping it’s the first in a series of good news,” Ruth said of the Hickory Hills plans.

Declining to disclose the estimated development cost at Hickory Hills, Hutcheson said Anderson Engineering Inc. is on board to handle land work in the next few months.

“If bids come in where we are hopeful, we’ll go ahead,” said Hutcheson, owner of Jim Hutcheson Realtors. “If not, we’re in no hurry. We thought we needed to have this engineered and be ready to go, whether it’s this year or in two years. We still have some inventory to sell in Phase I.”

Hutcheson said about half of the first-phase lots are still available, listed for $130,000-$180,000 for three-quarters of an acre to over an acre apiece.

He said each lot in Phase II would be about a third of an acre, and the retail portion fronting Chestnut Expressway would be carved out in three commercial lots.

The Hickory Hills subdivision was one of 11 zoning cases before council in the last meeting.

“That’s an uptick, too,” Smith said, citing rezoning requests by Menard Inc. and Kum & Go LC.

Mayor Bob Stephens said he’d been awaiting more residential development plans.

“Some of the construction we were seeing was only government and nonprofit,” Stephens said.

The commercial piece of the pie has been growing. According to annual bidding forecasts, over 100 commercial jobs were in the pipeline each of the last two years, representing projects totaling some $400 million in the Springfield area.

“Some of the construction we were seeing was only government and nonprofit,” Stephens said. “Now, we’re seeing residential. It’s not going to be too long before we’re completely out of this.”