Downtown housing plan draws ire from businesses, developers

City-owned land in downtown Springfield is being offered for multifamily development, but area developers and business owners claim that the site's greatest value is to retain it as public parking.

City intentions are to spur economic development with the construction of apartment buildings along College Street, between Campbell and Market avenues what is now mostly surface parking used by nearby loft apartment residents and businesses.

A recent downtown real estate study quantified demand for about 300 additional living units in center city.

The thinking is that more people downtown equals more economic activity, said Vern Morgan, Springfield's center city coordinator.

But downtown developers say their existing loft developments, and parking to support them, would be threatened.

"I've got 11 new spaces coming online in the next 30 days," said Jason Murray, who has created a 35-unit loft apartment complex at the corner of College Street and Market Avenue.

Even business owners who could benefit from an influx of people share in the concern for parking.

"My initial reaction when I heard there would be more people there was that it could be good for our business at the brewery," said Dan Manna, president of Paul Mueller Company, which owns the Springfield Brewing Company. But Manna said a parking crunch overshadows more brewery business when he considers the overall redevelopment of downtown.

Manna asks why not redevelop what's already in center city, rather than build something new?

"If you look to the area as a whole, I think what we want to see is those (vacant) buildings upgraded, redeveloped, turned into lofts and be a neat historical-looking district where we have the parking available to support it," he said.

Housing vs. parking

The city has heard the grumbling. A recent public meeting to discuss the city's request for proposals drew about 25 business owners and developers who opposed the new housing plan. The biggest issue was parking.

Developers have until June 30 to offer proposals. No official plans have yet been submitted. Developers Matthew Miller and Matt Miller, who are not related, have discussed constructing a two-building, 100-apartment complex.

The city is seeking apartments that rent between $400 and $700, Morgan said.

"What we're looking for is a proposal that would not create a net loss of existing public parking," Morgan said.

The city is requiring dedicated parking in the housing proposals, but it's only asking for one space per unit. The city also is asking for plans that maintain 150 spaces of public parking in the lot north of College.

Morgan said the city recognizes that under that plan, tenant parking would spillover to the public lot.

Murray wonders if his tenants will be squeezed out of parking spaces when his complex is full.

The city's solution is a parking garage. Morgan said the city envisions a parking garage on the north end of the lot when the demand calls for it. That time might come when plans for the Heer's Building and vacant buildings along Campbell south of College are fulfilled.

Realtor Bob McCroskey is part owner of three vacant buildings along Campbell, including the 16,000-square-foot Busy Bee building at the southeast corner of Campbell and College. Redevelopment plans have stalled, he said, and new housing would not affect his plans.

"I have mixed emotions on it," he said. "There is a lot of parking within a few hundred feet of that corner. If they did it and Heer's did it then it'd get real tight."

Another study

To address the parking issue, city officials are teaming with Southwest Missouri State University to conduct a downtown parking study.

"We need to look at the various scenarios of how much parking would be needed if certain development were to occur," Morgan said.

According to Manna, the city should already know the results. Manna recalls four formal parking studies between 1994 and 1998 that showed insufficient parking downtown.

"The city has for years, as part of Vision 20/20, said that parking is the No. 1 priority," he said.

In the meantime, Manna said, at least a dozen new restaurants and bars and a number of loft apartment renovations have been added to the landscape, increasing the volume of people. "Yet in that same period of time, there has been little or nothing done to add more parking. If that was the conclusion of the study back then, it's only gotten worse (today)," he said.

Mike Sowers, owner of Well-Fed Head Books at Campbell and Walnut a block south of the potential new housing thinks the city is on the right track with a new study.

"The potential is there for some problems if it is not addressed now," he said. "I want to see downtown developed, and I want to see people living down here. But we all need to have our eyes open as we go into that and not say that the parking is just going to work itself out."