HCW to build retail center in south Springfield

Branson-based HCW Development Co. LLC closed last week on the purchase of a former Springfield Back Yard Burgers property, where it plans to demolish the restaurant building and develop a $2.5 million retail center.

HCW CEO Rick Huffman said the company created Battlefield Strip LLC to buy the 1-acre property, 1008 E. Battlefield Road, for $1 million from Otoniel DeCasas. That’s below the $1.5 million asking price in a listing by commercial property broker Brad Thessing of Thessing Commercial Properties LLC.

Huffman said Texas-based chain Pie Five Pizza Co. will occupy one of five units at the 10,000-square-foot center. Pie Five operates over 80 restaurants in 24 states and has announced more than 400 franchised and company units under contract, according to PieFivePizza.com. The sister company of Pizza Inn, Pie Five does not currently operate in the Springfield area. The restaurant chain has locations in Kansas City and St. Louis.

Huffman said demolition of the Back Yard Burgers building should begin in the next couple weeks. Butler, Rosenbury & Partners Inc. is serving as architect for the project, which is scheduled to get underway in March. Huffman said it would take around five months to build, and Pie Five likely would move in about 45 days afterward.

“Everything’s full,” Huffman said of retail spaces in the south Springfield area. “We decided we’d put up 10,000 square feet of retail because there’s a really big need for it right along Battlefield there.”

Bids are out for a contractor on the center, which would have a drive-thru on one end, Huffman said. HCW hired R.B. Murray Co. to serve as the leasing company for the property.

The Back Yard Burgers operated by franchisee Kevin Rolf closed in late 2014. At the time, Springfield Business Journal reported building owner DeCasas was 60 days delinquent on a loan for the Battlefield Road building.