Financial services, restaurant coming downtown

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|ret|A restaurant and a financial services firm are finding the area around Park Central Square attractive for business.

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|ret|Pension Consultants Inc. is moving downtown, and Riad is a new downtown dining option set to come online this winter.

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|ret|Parkie's Stained Glass

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|ret|One year on the market and a handful of offers later, Parkie Gleason has found a buyer for his 13,000-square-foot, two-story building at 300 S. Campbell Ave.

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|ret|Pension Consultants Inc., co-owned by Brian Allen and Chris Thixton, has purchased the building as PCI Properties LLC and plans to move downtown by early spring.

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|ret|Pension Consultants is located at 3271 E. Battlefield Road, St. 201. The two parties reached an agreement Oct. 16, but neither disclosed the sales price.

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|ret|We both feel good about it and feel like it was a fair price, but it was lower than he was originally asking, Allen said.

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|ret|Gleason was originally asking $650,000 for the building.

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|ret|The deal is expected to close Dec. 1; Gleason will vacate the property that day, putting an end to a 26-year run of operating his antique and stained glass store/studio downtown. Parkie's Stained Glass is moving to a studio on Gleasons' farm near Niangua.

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|ret||quot|It's so pleasant out there,|quot| Gleason said. |quot|I couldnt stand to do it any other way.|quot|

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|ret|Allen said that crews will begin extensive renovations shortly after Dec. 1. Exterior work includes new windows and roofing, while an interior redesign will create 13 offices, two conference rooms and a reception area. Heritage Construction is the general contractor, and Dan Scott of Design Agency is the architect.

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|ret||quot|We're going to transform it but still be true to its history,|quot| Allen said, of the building, constructed in the 1920s as Turners Department Store.

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|ret|Allen has ordered a replica of the original canopy awning.

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|ret|New restaurant

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|ret|Allen Casey, owner of the historic Holland Building on Park Central Square, has found the first-floor tenant he has been waiting for. Riad Matar will lease space from Casey and open a restaurant called Riad featuring Greek and Mediterranean cuisine.

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|ret|The space is being revamped to the tune of $250,000, Matar said, virtually replacing everything from sheet rock to plumbing. Casey's firm, The Casey Associates Inc., is the master architect, and Kenmar Construction is the general contractor. Casey said 70 percent of the construction is complete and a Dec. 1 opening is planned.

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|ret|The entrance will front Robberson Alley, which is undergoing $250,000 in improvements by the city of Springfield as a pedestrian walkway.

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|ret|An existing jewelry vault will be turned into a wine cellar, where exclusive Greek wine as much as $200 a bottle will be stored and sold, Matar said.

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|ret|Matar said the menu features steaks and seafood, including mahi-mahi, tuna and salmon. Lunch plates will start at $5 and dinner entrees will range from $12 to $22, Matar said.

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|ret|He is currently interviewing chefs.

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|ret|Matar is looking forward to the Heers building being redeveloped next year across the square from him. |quot|I'd like to see more restaurants,|quot| Matar said. |quot|The more restaurants we have on the square, the bigger the crowds.|quot|

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|ret|Casey continues to pursue bar tenants for the basement of the Holland Building.

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|ret||quot|If it were up to me, it would be somewhere between either a piano bar or an Irish pub kind of thing,|quot| Casey said. |quot|Thats what Im sort of holding out for.|quot|

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|ret|Casey also said negotiations are ongoing with a local clothing retailer for a portion of the Holland Building storefront.

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