Developer cites court decision as hitch in C-Street project

A judge overturned the state’s 2024 historic tax credit expansion on Oct. 22, which a local developer says could further delay the long-awaited renovation of the Missouri Hotel.

In 2017, Titus Williams whetted the appetites of the Commercial Street community with his purchase of the Missouri Hotel and his vision to transform the historic property into a luxury hotel from its last use as a homeless shelter. Work was held up and the building remained vacant as Williams reported over the years to Springfield Business Journal he was awaiting design approvals and the granting of historic tax credits to begin work.

Williams said via email Oct. 29 that the credits are essential to the project.

Project delays for Missouri Hotel and other nearby developments owned by Williams have some C-Street business owners and boosters concerned: When will the project commence, and will it be in time to save the historic hotel from deteriorating?

“We really need them to do something,” said Irene Schaefer, vice president of the Commercial Street Community Improvement District.

Multiphase project
Springfield City Council in April 2024 approved a four-phase C-Street development for 7.5 acres owned by the Commercial-Pacific Street Redevelopment Corp., headed by Williams.

Williams’ plan for the area extending south from East Commercial to Pacific Street included mixed-use and townhome construction and a renovation of the Missouri Hotel.

According to past SBJ reporting, when council passed the first phase of the four-phase plan, the Pacific South Project, the initiative called for construction of 72 townhomes to begin immediately one block south of C-Street, with completion anticipated by the end of this year. Today, the area along Pacific Street remains quiet, with no construction equipment or materials in place.

The second phase, called the 540 E. Commercial Project, called for a mixed-use residential building with ground-floor retail, restaurant and office spaces.

Renovation of the Missouri Hotel was announced as the third phase, scheduled to begin in fall 2024.

The fourth phase, the Pacific North Project, was a 200-dwelling multifamily residential complex with ground-floor office and retail space.

SBJ requested an interview with Williams, but he declined, instead answering questions via email.

Asked whether the projects were on track, Williams replied with a reference to historic tax preservation credits.

“The new change to the HTC legislation has caused us another delay. It looks like it will be appealed,” he wrote.

Former Missouri Gov. Mike Parson backed legislation to amend the state’s historic tax credit law and rename them the Missouri Historic, Rural Revitalization and Regulatory Streamlining Act, and the new act became active Aug. 28, 2024.

A Cole County judge overturned the bill in October of this year. The ruling by Circuit Judge Brian K. Stumpe deemed unconstitutional a small piece of the legislation – a clause related to restrictions on backyard chickens  – and this tainted the legislation in full. The chicken provision was added in the late stages of debate on the bill, and the judge found the legislation violated the state’s clear title provision, which requires that a bill’s title match its contents.

The ruling quotes case law that directs an entire bill to be deemed unconstitutional “unless the court is convinced beyond reasonable doubt that one of the bill’s multiple subjects is its original, controlling purpose and that the other subject is not.”

Abigail Bergmann, press secretary for the Missouri Attorney General’s office, told SBJ that the state intends to appeal at the first available opportunity, 30 days after the judgment is issued.

She clarified that the expansion to the historic tax credit program was invalidated by the Cole County court decision, but the original tax credit provisions not included in the bill are still in effect.

Here in Springfield, Williams was asked to clarify if the project is on hold pending the state’s appeal and if he has a new timeline for it.

He replied, “The project is not on hold. We are finalizing partnership documents, value-engineering the Pacific South Phase and working with architects.”

Williams went on to say that he still has to complete a workable plan to present to the community and to multiple governing bodies for approval of the tax abatements and construction design.

Williams confirmed that the progress that was taking place was of the bureaucratic variety rather than the type involving heavy equipment at work on the project.

“Even though approval has been given for the Pacific South Phase, it came with increased costly requirements which necessitate the value engineering of the project,” he said. “The remaining phases will need tax abatement approval and historic tax credits to make the projects financially viable.”

Impact on C-Street
Williams is not the only businessperson on tenterhooks as work on C-Street is delayed.

Justin Beiler, co-owner with wife Karen Beiler of Eurasia Coffee Co. and its adjoining hotel, Culture: C-Street LLC, said any plans for his own businesses are on hold until he has a better idea of what will happen with the multiphase development.

Beiler’s enterprise, which also includes a 2,000-square-foot coworking space, is located across the street from a boarded-up historic commercial building in Williams’ C-Street portfolio.

“I think there’s been some opposition to Titus from people on the street from day one – they just didn’t like his plans for it,” Beiler said. “Overall, we’re for the project. Waiting has just become a little painful for us.”

While Beiler said the businesses are doing well, with hotel occupancy over 90% on weekends, he struggles with poor customer reviews based on the perception that the hotel is in a dangerous area.

“The hard thing is we see what people are saying. The reviews, and having people feel that it’s just not a great area – that hurts,” he said. “If it goes on for too long, even once construction’s done, we’ve trained people to see this as a not desirable place.”

The construction also impacts his pricing, as Beiler holds room prices around $150 per night, though he knows comparable accommodations might go for $250 or more.

Beiler said he has seen the perception of C-Street change since Eurasia Coffee and Tea LLC began doing business as a coffee wholesaler in 2010, according to past SBJ reporting. At that time, the Missouri Hotel was still functioning as a homeless shelter, and he observed people parked in front of his business, sleeping in their cars to be close to partners and children lodged inside. Those were different times, he said.

The perception of C-Street is much more positive today, Beiler said, but that’s the result of slow progress that took place over a period of 10-15 years.

“I don’t want to see another group of people trained to see it as the rundown part of downtown,” he said.

Beiler said he makes near-daily sweeps of the property across the street, disassembling cardboard lean-tos and tossing each night’s new collection of bottles and food wrappers. He also arrives at his business at 5:30 a.m., before his staff start their shifts, to do a sweep of the building. He said some of his workers were surprised to find an intruder sleeping inside the coffee shop in mid-October.

He said he doesn’t blame Williams for the unsheltered population – that’s a citywide crisis – but he does look forward to changes when the project is complete.

He added that he expects on-street parking to be limited in the future, and that could lead to a change in his own business model, perhaps with the transition of the hotel rooms to apartments. However, he said, he is reluctant to make any significant changes until he has a better bead on the project that promises to transform the eastern side of the C-Street historic district. He added that an active hotel and additional housing will be good for the coffee shop.

Beiler said he has stopped promoting the hotel, but he welcomes regulars who stop by monthly or quarterly – people who love the neighborhood and embrace its distinctive style. However, he said, some prefer the perception of safety offered by, say, a Holiday Inn Express.

“We haven’t really sought to grow it because of that fear,” he said.

Nervous
Schaefer, the C-Street CID vice president, is an outspoken booster for the thoroughfare. She offered a walking tour of C-Street to show the condition of the buildings impacted by the delay, including the grand Missouri Hotel.

Schaefer pointed out a newly broken window in the front of the hotel, and she peered inside to see if she could detect any progress.

“It looks like someone has swept the floor,” she said.

However, absent from the interior were signs of construction, such as scaffolding or lumber.

In the rear of the building, Schaefer pointed out a ransacked electrical box from which wires had been scavenged and trash piles in an exterior stairway leading to a basement door – possible signs that someone has taken shelter there.

“This is the kind of activity we don’t want,” she said.

Even so, Schaefer is upbeat about the ongoing transformation of C-Street, and especially about the renovations happening to the Jefferson Avenue Footbridge, a centerpiece of the district, currently undergoing a $13 million rehabilitation that is partly funded by the state of Missouri.

“We are so over-the-moon excited about our bridge,” she said. “It’s given us all hope that the north side really does matter.”

But Schaefer said she had hoped the Missouri Hotel renovation would have been long underway before bridge work even began.

“Lack of progress on the east end of Commercial Street can hold us back,” she said. “I think the people who love and believe in this community are hoping this moves forward quickly.”