Downtown residential development spreads to Commercial Street

The ripples of downtown revitalization are reaching Commercial Street at least in the form of loft apartments.

About a dozen new loft apartments will enter the Commercial Street market by fall as a handful of property owners are renovating vacant spaces for residential use. There are 40 existing lofts in the six-block historic district.

However, while residential development is strong, commercial development on the street still struggles for a foothold.

"There's been strong developer interest in the residential, but not as strong in the retail market," said Mary Lilly Smith in the city's economic development office.

New developments

Local artist Christine Schilling is putting six apartments in her building at 328 E. Commercial St. Hers is the largest single development planned.

Three upscale lofts are under construction in Mary Collette's 312 E. Commercial St. building. And Cottons, Ruthie's Bar & Grill and Frisco Tavern landlord David Harris is putting three lofts above Cottons. Harris said he also plans to remodel and upgrade Cottons "for a little different clientele, possibly."

Collette said: "I think what's happening downtown is really igniting (Commercial Street). The residential is exciting because it has the potential to really stabilize the area."

Architect Dan Scott is designing all the new apartments.

New office space will become available this fall, too, as Ron Walker of Walker Construction digs into a project at 514 E. Commercial St. He purchased the 1897-constructed building off the city's dangerous buildings list. Walker will move his company into the space and lease the remaining 2,000 square feet.

Walker is looking at other Commercial Street properties, as well. "I am by no means stopping at one building," he said.

Another positive sign is Scott Tillman's purchase of two buildings, 426 and 428 W. Commercial, for future remodel. Tillman has no immediate plans.

"I've got my hands full downtown," he said.

Challenges to business

The list of businesses to come and go along Commercial Street is numerous. It wasn't always that way, however.

Collette, a councilwoman and Commercial Street landlord, remembers a time when Commercial Street was thriving. That was the early 1980s.

"When I moved here, it was very exciting," she said.

Today, she finds it difficult keeping tenants in her two rental properties. The excitement has fizzled, and business owners and landlords point to the social services that essentially bookend the historic business district.

"Our customers have been leery about coming down here," said restaurateur Greg Hill of Metro Station. "We're not the typical business on this street. We're shooting for a more upscale environment, and that's hard to do on Commercial Street."

Hill opened the restaurant less than two months ago. He already has closed during the lunch hour because business was not supporting it.

Metro Station is Collette's seventh tenant in eight years at 312 E. Commercial St. Six months ago, Shaolin Lohan School of Kung Fu left Collette's 200 E. Commercial St. building because parents stopped bringing their children there, she said. "And I get no calls to rent that," she said.

She believes that the clientele that social services attracts limits development. Transients seeking food and shelter from Victory Mission, Missouri Hotel and The Kitchen often spill out onto the street. About five blocks separate the facilities. Victory Mission, for example, provided shelter to 20,000 transients and served 57,000 meals last year, according to Galen Dennis, men's director.

"Based on the 1994 International Downtown Association assessment of center city, the concentration of social services limits other developmental opportunities. That is proven," Collette said. "That's one of the reasons I think retail is so tough up here."

Concentrating social services

Studies performed for the city dating back to 1987 also point to the concentration of social services as detrimental to economic development.

The 1987 study, requested by then Mayor George Scruggs, found: "There is a substantial economic impact on the businesses that have been in existence in the neighborhood long before either (social service) program was started. ... Concentrating feeding and shelter programs in the same confined area, in this case about five blocks, tends to congregate the clientele."

Eight years later, a second study made this recommendation: "Springfield should not continue to concentrate (social) services on Commercial Street." Paul Rollinson completed the 1995 study for Springfield's Department of Planning and Development.

Hill wonders why the area is facing the same problems today. He is asking the city for help.

"The city is not doing much about the people on the street," he said. "I think the city needs to take a more positive approach of getting more merchants on (Commercial Street)."

According to Fred May, director of Planning and Development, the city is looking at possibly funding a strategic plan for Commercial Street.

"There's no money set aside to do a strategic plan for Commercial Street, but that doesn't mean money couldn't be found to do so," May said.

Law enforcement

The Springfield Police Department is doing its part to clean up the area, said Matt Brown, public information officer. A recent prostitution sting, involving two female undercover officers posing as prostitutes, resulted in 20 arrests along Commercial.

"We need to stop the prostitutes on the street there," Brown said.

Businesses can help eliminate such activity by contacting the police department with concerns. There is one Springfield officer dedicated to Commercial Street.

"The business owners are the key ingredients to making this work, because without them, it is really hard to enforce a lot of what we do," Brown said.

However, if loitering is occurring, don't expect immediate arrests. The police department offers warnings first. "Our goal is to educate first, then take action afterward."

The future

Tim Turner, owner of Rathbone Ace Hardware, thinks the business climate is improving, aided by the residential development and other projects, as well the new sidewalks the city has installed.

Rathbone Ace Hardware is an exception on Commercial. The family-owned hardware store has been in business there for 105 years.

"People think of (the area) as unsafe. We get that sort of comment all the time," said Turner, owner for the past 20 years. "Actually, it's not (unsafe). It's so much press involving the shelters or the homeless that people think of it in that context."

Collette said the community must take an interest before commercialism returns to Commercial.

"I see a desire on behalf of the city government to try and address these negative impacts; I see the police working very hard to do it," she said. "But I think that the community has to want it to happen too. I feel that happening more all the time."