Heer's owner receives $2.5 million settlement

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The check is in, the tax credits are approved, and for Warren Davis, the future is his and Heer's.|ret||ret||tab|

Warren Davis Properties V LLC, owner of the Heer's building on Springfield's square since 1995, received a $2,553,000 settlement check Sept. 5 from United Fire and Casualty Company. The settlement ended a seven-year court battle with United Fire and Casualty Company, insurers of the building.|ret||ret||tab|

The settlement check, coupled with $4.5 million in historic renovation tax credits, is expected to spark the long-awaited renovation of the seven-story former department store. The 150,000-square-foot building has sat vacant since the department store closed in 1995.|ret||ret||tab|

The settlement is "certainly funds that are available for the redevelopment, but we weren't waiting on that," said Ron Shepherd, property manager with Davis Properties. "We were waiting on those (tax credits)."|ret||ret||tab|

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The claim|ret||ret||tab|

The lawsuit stemmed from a claim filed by Davis Properties in late 1995, four months after the firm acquired the building. Severe water damage occurred in the building over Thanksgiving weekend that year when vandals broke a sprinkler head, causing it to run for the entire weekend, the claim states. According to attorney John Price, with Carnahan Evans Cantwell & Brown, United Fire and Casualty denied the claim six months later, contending that the building was vacant and overinsured.|ret||ret||tab|

What followed was a series of trials, jury rulings and appeals before the Missouri Court of Appeals Southern District this summer upheld an Oct. 26, 2001, jury verdict in favor of Davis Properties.|ret||ret||tab|

"Finally, seven years and nine months after the event, Mr. Davis received payment on his insurance claim, plus attorney's fees and interest," Price said. "It is a credit to Mr. Davis and his belief in downtown Springfield that he saw this through a substantial investment of time and money in the litigation. And we look forward to having Mr. Davis' faith pay off in a redeveloped Heer's building."|ret||ret||tab|

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Tax credits|ret||ret||tab|

The Heer's building is a $10 million project that wouldn't be possible without the historical tax credits, according to Kim Harrington, an owner member of Davis Properties and Warren Davis' daughter.|ret||ret||tab|

"That's what makes the project," she said of the tax credits. "It becomes unmanageable without that. That's why it has sat for so long."|ret||ret||tab|

Of the $10 million estimated redevelopment costs, 20 percent is available for federal tax credits and 25 percent is available for state tax credits, Shepherd said.|ret||ret||tab|

Harrington said plans remain to create a multi-use building dominated by office space. |ret||ret||tab|

Some restaurant and retail space will be available on the first few floors, she said.|ret||ret||tab|

"I think you've got to have that mixed use, so you keep people in the building," she said.|ret||ret||tab|

The 18-month renovation project is set to begin in January.|ret||ret||tab|

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