Developer makes new plans for contested Galloway site

Mitch Jenkins: Plan calls for preserving structures, maintaining trees and green space.

Melanie Bach: Historic Treadway’s building is an example of demolition by neglect.

• 
• 

Developers Mitch and Amanda Jenkins are again considering a development on a Galloway Village property that was the focus of a zoning dispute and subsequent citywide referendum in 2022.

Mitch Jenkins confirmed the plans to redevelop the site at 3535 S. Lone Pine Ave. in a statement to Springfield Business Journal on May 5.

The property in question is only one parcel out of four that the Jenkinses, under their Elevation Enterprises LLC, sought to develop in 2022. 

Plumbing, wrecking and building project permits were filed with the city of Springfield under the Jenkinses’ Galloway Village LLC on April 29 for the 3535 S. Lone Pine Ave. parcel.

On the permit applications, Arkifex Studios LLC is listed as the architect and H.C. Rogers Construction Group LLC is listed as the general contractor, consultant and plan submitter.

Greene County assessor records show that the property and an adjoining parcel at 3503 S. Lone Pine Ave. were purchased by Galloway Village LLC, also owned by the Jenkinses, on March 6.

Two other parcels on the proposed development site – 3521 and 3527 – remain under the ownership of Elevation Enterprises.

In his statement, Jenkins said the permit filings were submitted following an extended period of planning and review.

He added, “The site has been deliberately planned over several years, with a focus on preserving several existing structures, maintaining mature trees and preserving green space within a neighborhood-scale design intended to fit within its surroundings and strengthen the character of the neighborhood.”

The permits note the plan for the project starts with the wrecking of the existing building on the site, which Galloway neighborhood residents previously tried to protect with a historic designation.

Back in November 2022, the Jenkinses’ plans for a mixed-use development on the same site were soundly rejected by voters in a citywide election. More than 70% voted against the plan in a rezoning measure that would have led the way for the development that was first proposed in summer 2018. The plans caused more than four years of friction between the neighborhood and the developer, according to past SBJ reporting.

Last month, a $7.75 million loan from Arlo Bank was made to Galloway Village LLC – incorporated in December 2025 by Jenkins – and Elevation Enterprises LLC for work at the site, according to public records published by SBJ.

Reached the day after SBJ broke the news of the permit activity, Mitch Jenkins again declined to provide more details on his plans for the site.

Historic site nomination
On April 19, 10 days prior to the owner’s filing for a permit to demolish the property, a historic site nomination application was filed by the Galloway Village Neighborhood Association for the former Sequiota Store and Treadway’s General Store & Gas Station, the building now slated for demolition at 3535 S. Lone Pine Ave. The building was erected in 1929.

The bid for the historic designation was made to the city’s Landmarks Board, which met on May 6 and discussed the nomination but chose not to act on it. Instead, the board directed city staff to reach out to the property owners to weigh in on the application, either by mail or in an appearance at the June meeting of the board.

Melanie Bach, neighborhood association president, told SBJ the Jenkinses’ renewed interest in developing the Galloway property came as a surprise to neighborhood leaders, who had been working on efforts to halt what she called demolition by neglect on the site. The property has been vacant since 2018, when furniture store One of a Kind moved out. The neighborhood association said the site had tenants regularly before the Elevation Enterprises purchase.

Bach said neighborhood representatives attended a March 26 meeting as part of the Neighborhood Teams program, an initiative of the city’s Planning Department.

In an email, Angela Duran, senior planner with the city, said the meetings are held to discuss code enforcement and nuisance properties, and in the initial meeting, city staff reviews priorities listed by neighborhoods.

Duran said the neighborhood association listed “demolition of historic buildings by neglect/nuisance properties” as their No. 1 issue.

She said Bach mentioned the previous failed attempt at a historic designation for 3535 S. Lone Pine Ave. – that was shot down by Springfield City Council in 2019 – and indicated the neighborhood would like to see more properties obtain historic designations.

“In discussing demolition by neglect and designation of historic properties, my suggestion was to reach out to the Landmarks Board to learn more about the process and to see what their options are as a neighborhood association,” Duran said.

The application, shared with SBJ by Duran, rounded out the top five concerns in the neighborhood with weed overgrowth and invasive species, homelessness, beautification of public rights of way and speeding.

Bach previously told SBJ that a member of the city staff suggested the neighborhood apply for the landmark designation.

Duran said she did not make that recommendation for the 3535 S. Lone Pine Ave. property.

Back in 2019, the Galloway Village Neighborhood Association applied for the historic site designation on the Springfield Historic Register without the consent of the property owner, which was Jenkins but under his company Elevation Enterprises. The measure failed with a split vote from City Council.

Bach said the move was disheartening for the neighborhood association members, following what she said was unanimous approval by the city’s Landmarks Board.

“We got all the way to City Council and got smacked down and called unethical,” she said. “Most of the Landmarks Board disbanded after that.”

But Bach said the Landmarks Board has been active lately, and the composition of City Council changed following municipal elections in April 2025.

“We thought, let’s go ahead and apply for it again,” she said.

Bach said she found out about the demolition permit for the site on Lone Pine Avenue the day before the news broke.

“I don’t know if it’s all a coincidence or there’s any correlation or if he got wind of anything,” she said of Jenkins. “We thought we’d go for it again, since the city staff says it would be beneficial.”

Bach said for the past five years, the windows have been open in one of the historic structures on the site, compromising the integrity of the building’s interior, and she maintained that the buildings have been left vacant since the Jenkinses have taken ownership.

“The neighborhood has been in a difficult position,” Bach said. “We don’t want to keep poking at him to make it necessary to demolish them, but we don’t want to stand by and do nothing. But he has let the windows stay open.”

Asked what she would like to see on the site, Bach said she wishes she could turn back the clock and see the buildings occupied and not subjected to neglect.

“If there was a picture of demolition by neglect, this would be it,” she said.

Barring that, Bach said she thinks the site would be perfect as an extension of Sequiota Park, perhaps with a community center or museum on-site.

“The Chadwick Flyer’s coming in; the (community improvement district’s) activated – good things are happening,” she said. “We’ve never agreed with the intensity that Mitch Jenkins wanted to do over there. We’ve never seen eye-to-eye with him for a lot of reasons. It’s difficult to see something that he creates integrating well into the community down here.”

Demolition by neglect
The Landmarks Board began its May 6 meeting by taking action on a trio of historic renovations of residential and commercial properties in the city, with property owners submitting plans aimed at improvement and preservation.

Then they got to the Galloway proposal, which ended with the decision to seek input from the property owner, rather than acting on the nomination.

“How does that feel, guys?” asked Chair John Hawkins near the end of the discussion.

“Not stellar,” said member Genevieve Henry.

“None of it feels good,” agreed Bryan Lenox.

Henry offered a motion to nominate the property for historic site designation, but her motion failed to get a second.

Lenox maintained throughout the discussion that the property owner should have the opportunity to come into a board meeting and say something – even if they choose not to – and he noted that he would like to hear from the owner before moving forward on a nomination.

Member Seva Nix wondered what the board would ask the owner.

“Do we want to know what’s going in its place? Should that sway us, if it’s a parking lot or if it’s something else?” he asked.

In comparing a photo of the property from 2018 to one from this year, Nix summed up the difference by saying, “This one’s been abandoned and neglected.”

It’s a common problem, according to Henry.

“Sometimes people do not do what is in the best interest of the community,” she said.

Bach said in an interview after the meeting that Galloway – a former town of its own, and not just a Springfield neighborhood – has few remaining historic properties. That makes it hard to lose the Treadway building, once a hub of local activity.

She added that the board’s next meeting, set for June 10, will be too late.