Developers pitch big ideas for little lot

HCW Evergreen LLC of Branson, for example, is proposing a four-star hotel with up to 18 floors under the Hilton or Embassy Suites brand. The hotel also would boast at least 10,000 square feet of meeting space and 23,000 square feet of ballroom space.

Springfield R-XII Schools and the Springfield-Greene County Park Board pitched a 160,000-square-foot administrative complex comprising dual towers and an outdoor commons. Officials said the complex would enable the two scattered systems to centralize their employees.

John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts officials – suggesting another downtown hotel isn’t financially feasible – proposed a five-story, 120,000-square-foot office building. The proposal, however, is contingent on a commitment from accounting firm BKD LLP, a tenant of seven floors in Hammons Tower just to the east.

BKD also submitted a development proposal of its own that calls for two four- or five-story office buildings – one fronting St. Louis Street and another along East Trafficway to be occupied by a third-party tenant.

The commission that oversees the Jordan Valley Park tax-increment financing district now has to decide which proposal to recommend to City Council. Chairman Brian Fogle said commissioners will meet again March 5 to discuss the merits of each proposal.

“We’re very excited about the quality of the projects and the developers,” said Fogle, who also is vice president of community development at Great Southern Bank.

Opposing views

Representatives with HCW Evergreen and Hammons have expressed opposing views about whether the site could support a new hotel.

Rick Huffman, principal of HCW Evergreen, said his firm’s market research indicates that a hotel with 30 high-end residential condos and 300 rooms renting for an average of $150 a night could sustain a 65 percent occupancy rate.

But representatives with John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts, which owns University Plaza opposite the vacant site in question, said downtown couldn’t support another hotel.

“We at John Q. Hammons Hotels just couldn’t make it work,” said Scott Tarwater, the company’s senior vice president of development.

As such, Hammons is proposing a “corporate identity” office to meet the needs of BKD, which employs more than 260 employees in Springfield and more than 1,600 companywide. The building’s first floor would offer upscale restaurant/retail space, Hammons representatives said.

Should the need arise for additional lodging space downtown, University Plaza could add another 80 to 100 rooms to the 282 already there, Tarwater said. Even though 2006 was a phenomenal year for the hotel business, Springfield’s hotel occupancy rate was 55 percent with an average nightly rate of $59, Tarwater noted.

But when citywide lodging statistics are broken into categories by rate, the information appears to support Huffman’s assertion. For Springfield hotels that charge more than $70 a night, the average nightly rate is $90 and the occupancy rate is the highest of any category at 62 percent, said Tracy Kimberlin, executive director of the city’s Convention & Visitors Bureau.

“What that tells me is that there’s more of a demand for upscale properties,” he said.

Huffman said convention business generated by the upscale hotel he’s proposing would only benefit UP. He predicted both hotels would thrive from the increased center city activity.

“We think there’s a demand for new hotel rooms,” Huffman said. “New – that’s the key. If we’re wrong, we’ll be the ones to take the financial risk for it.”

Huffman said HCW plans to hire Butler, Rosenbury & Partners to design the hotel and Killian Construction for preconstruction services. Hammons has hired BRP to design its proposed BKD office building, which would be built by Crossland Construction of Columbus, Kan.

BKD’s imminent move

For more than two years, Kansas City-based Zimmer Real Estate Services LC has scoured downtown Springfield in search of real estate for BKD, which has outgrown its 60,000-square-foot multifloor spread in Hammons Tower.

“We looked at several options and ruled out most of them,” said Mike VanBuskirk, Zimmer’s senior vice president.

BKD has been in Hammons Tower since 1987 and now occupies nearly one-third of its space, said Mark Harrell, president of Plaza Realty Management Services Inc. Plaza Realty manages the 22-story office building for Hammons.

BKD gradually leased more office space in Hammons Tower throughout the years, and the firm now occupies five entire floors and parts of two other floors, Harrell said.

When the opportunity to build on the former arena site arose late last year, BKD was immediately interested, VanBuskirk said. The firm hasn’t contracted for detailed design work, but it has generated a “short list” of potential developers for the proposed office-building project, he added.

And the sooner the ball is rolling for BKD, the better, said Operations Partner Bill Kirkman. The firm would prefer to move into a new office building late next year, but could make the transition in late 2009, if necessary, he said.

When BKD does find its new home, the firm will leave a huge void in Hammons Tower, but Harrell sees the firm’s departure as an opportunity to accommodate other businesses looking for premium office space. Historically, the occupancy rate at Hammons Tower has been above 90 percent, he said.

“Over the last 12 to 15 years, we haven’t had that type of space to offer,” Harrell said.

The average lease rate for Class A offices at Hammons Tower is about $19 per square foot, according to the management company’s site, www.plaza-realty.com.

City of Springfield

Tax Abatement and Tax Increment Financing Commission

Mayoral Appointments

Conrad Griggs, City Council

Rodney Nichols, Springfield-Greene County Library Board

Brad Bodenhausen, Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce

Sally Hargis, Ozarks Coca-Cola/Dr Pepper Bottling Co.

Jan Horton, retired

Rusty Worley, Urban Districts Alliance

Greene County Appointments

David Coonrod, Greene County Presiding Commissioner

Roseann Bentley, Greene County Commissioner

Springfield R-XII School District Appointments

Norman Ridder, Superintendent

Debbie Tolliver, School Board member

“Other Taxing Jurisdictions” Appointment

Brian Fogle, Great Southern Bank (chairman)

How would you vote?

If you were a Springfield TIF commissioner, which development proposal for downtown’s former arena site would you say makes the most sense, and why?

• Four-star hotel with residential condos

• Five-story office building for BKD with restaurant/retail space

• Two multistory office buildings for BKD and a third-party tenant

• Schools/parks administrative complex

Vote online at sbj.net/poll.