Home improvement chain builds Ozarks

Progress

Site improvements are being completed for the store in Ozark, which is part of St. Louis developer Tom Walker’s Ozark Centre. City Planner Steve Childers said all the necessary permits are in place, and construction should begin in the next few weeks.

Childers said the development is in reaction to a rapid growth movement in the Christian County town.

“It’s just a very hot spot,” he said. “We’ve got so many homes and living units moving into the area, with access to several highways, that Lowe’s realized they could probably make very good financial sense out of locating in the city of Ozark.”

The new store in Ozark is expected to be open in the fourth quarter of 2005, according to a company news release.

Republic, meanwhile, is getting a new store that will stand alone, rather than being part of a larger development.

“They’ve submitted their construction drawings, which are under final review, and once that’s done they’ll be able to start construction,” said Assistant City Administrator Chris Coulter. “They submitted a final addendum, and they’re planning to start construction the week of June 27.”

A completion date has not yet been set for the Republic store.

Financing a big box

Republic, according to Coulter, originally had not planned to offer any special incentives for the store’s construction, but he said now “with some intersection improvements and sidewalk improvements, we’ll probably be entering into a developers’ agreement with them on that.”

In Ozark, Lowe’s is financing the new store internally. However, the store is a part of Ozark Centre’s transportation development district, which uses local tax money to fund improvements to the transportation infrastructure in the district.

Karen Cobb, spokeswoman for the North Carolina-based Lowe’s chain, said the company’s investment for the two new stores is more than $36 million. The investments locally signal a greater level of respect for Springfield’s bedroom communities, said Allen Kunkel, regional development manager for the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.

“You’ve seen the residential growth in those communities, and having those types of stores close to those residents is important,” he said. “Home improvement projects are continuing to increase each year, along with the do-it-yourself supply stores, as well as the private and professional home builders. That’s where the residential growth is occurring, and I think the market justifies those types of stores.”

Estimated population in Springfield’s Metropolitan Statistical Area, comprising Greene, Christian, Dallas, Polk and Webster counties, was 390,986 as of July 1, 2004, the most recent data available from the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s a 5.8 percent increase from July 1, 2000.

Growing tax base

Cobb said there are many factors that come into play when the company looks for where to build a new location.

“Lowe’s does extensive research before considering a site in any community,” including homeownership, population, highway access and community growth, she said in an e-mail. “We have decided to add stores in Missouri because we believe there is growth potential in these communities.”

Republic City Administrator Dean Thompson has said the store should generate between $400,000 and $700,000 in annual sales tax.

Pete Beckers doesn’t expect Lowe’s sales in Ozark to deter activity at his Ozark store, Scott’s-Beckers’ Hardware.

“We’re not the typical hardware store; we don’t have any electronics, water heaters, plumbing or anything like that,” he said. “They don’t really do anything that we do.”

Kunkel said the new stores could have an effect on sales in Springfield, but he’s not overly worried about the trend of the national chains moving into surrounding communities.

“Any time you increase the opportunities to buy those goods outside of Springfield, it’s going to have some kind of an impact,” he said. “But I think our philosophy is as you develop other communities, it’s going to raise the level of all the communities in the region.”

The figures seem to back Kunkel’s statement; sales tax revenues in Springfield are up 4.5 percent for the 2004-2005 fiscal year to date through the end of April.

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