Downtown retail scene awaits College Station completion

Although listing agent Ken Schwab of Wilhoit Properties has not heavily publicized space available in The Shoppes at College Station, on the ground floor of College Station Car Park, or the development’s Theater Plaza Shoppes just to the north, he says interest from potential tenants has been strong.

Infill, however, cannot begin at the development until the city of Springfield transfers title of the car park to developer Scott Tillman. That process, according to Schwab, is just days or weeks away.

“We’re under letter-of-intent status with two different users,” Schwab said. One is a Midwest major metro sports bar in the 7,000- to 8,000-square-foot range, and the other is a military recruiting office targeting downtown’s younger demographic. Both of those tenants would go into The Shoppes at College Station.

Deb Scott and Bart Pinkerton of Wilhoit are leasing agents for College Station.

Still, for at least one downtown business, the anticipated opening of College Station and developer Kevin McGowan’s $26 million redevelopment of the nearby Heer’s building didn’t come soon enough.

O’Connell’s Center City Grocery, a deli and small-item grocery store, closed its doors April 25 at 208 McDaniel St.

Owner Donna O’Connell told Springfield Business Journal on closing day that declining business and rising operating costs were the final factors in closing.

“I gave it a good fight,” O’Connell said. “I just couldn’t keep holding on, waiting for College Station and Heer’s.”

Schwab, who is also in conversations with a retail food store for College Station, said he expects food service to be well represented in the College Station tenant mix.

Evolutionary factors

Key factors in the evolution are parking, product and population.

Parking has always been a stumbling block for downtown properties, Schwab said, but with 400 new spaces in the College Station Car Park and 375 more coming on line this month with the $5.9 million Heer’s Car Park, “that’s an objection that’s totally off the table now.”

Also, “I do a lot with people who want new construction, and I think that what finally brings customers to the table for downtown is product – new product that fits the needs of certain users,” Schwab said.

In the past, downtown was off-limits for some retailers because the district’s historic era structures didn’t meet their needs for square footage, ceiling height or other design considerations. College Station’s 80,000 square feet of brand new retail space is designed with those users in mind. “That type of space being available now is opening it up to new markets,” Schwab said.

Lease rates are around $13 per square foot at the Shoppes at College Station and up to $25 per square foot in the Theater Plaza Shoppes, depending on the amount of finish provided. Those rates are comparable to new south-side retail, which runs $15 to $30 per square foot, Schwab said.

Downtown is still catering to small businesses with retail rates around $8 per square foot in older renovated structures, said Rusty Worley, executive director of Urban Districts Alliance.

“We’ve seen another surge in retail over the last year with several new additions,” Worley said. New downtown retailers include Pastiche, Indie, the reopening of Shae Belle under new ownership, Pure Downtown Boutique and Global Fayre.

Worley said he, too, gets a steady stream of prospects interested in locating downtown. While the buzz around College Station is contributing to that, so is the population demographic – almost 54 percent of residents within a mile of downtown are age 24 or younger.

The downtown area is densely populated – 15,743 people live within a mile of Walnut and South Street, compared to 8,200 within a mile of Battlefield Road and Glenstone Avenue, according to Worley.

With new condo developments – including the Six23 Condos and new lofts in the Wheeler’s Furniture building – that urban density will likely increase.

Also, the downtown population is younger: the median age within a mile of downtown is 24; within a mile of Battlefield Mall, it’s 49.

Those are sweet numbers for retailers, and both Worley and Schwab predict a surge in service retail – wireless communication stores, hair salons, technology stores, etc. – to serve the growing population.

“With the demographics we have here, it’s amazing that we don’t have a cell phone store,” Worley said, adding, “I think that College Station will help get that segment filled.”

Schwab said he likes the aggressive pace and product mix that downtown now offers, and he sees it as a healthy market, with developers such as Morris Dock of 3-D Properties taking an interest.

Dock, who is in the process of purchasing the Wheeler’s building, is negotiating with a major retailer that may occupy the entire first floor, though he declined to disclose specifics. The upper floors are being converted into 12 loft condos, and Dock said he has seven “very interested” prospects on a waiting list, even though he doesn’t close on the property until June 1.

Meanwhile, as O’Connell says goodbye to downtown’s retail scene, she is ready to move forward, with plans to take some time off before finding another job.

“It was a great experience,” she said. “I met some wonderful people. I don’t regret it at all.”

SBJ Online Editor Dee Dee Jacobs contributed to this story.