Investors roll the dice on Commercial Street

Reality and perception are not always the same on Commercial Street, according to revitalization advocates who are undertaking what is possibly the street’s most ambitious overhaul to date.

“I know (Commercial Street) has a little bit of a stigma attached to it, but I think that’s going to change,” said Tonia Harris, who opened Kids Rags Upscale Boutique at 320 E. Commercial on Nov. 18. “There’s more businesses coming in down here, and I just think it’s such a neat area.”

Harris decided to take the risk on 1,000 square feet of nearly 100-year-old Commercial Street storefront just one block from the Missouri Hotel homeless shelter instead of opting for a proven retail area such as Springfield’s south side.

“I always liked Commercial Street,” she said. “I just love the buildings.”

She’s hoping her gamble pays off. “I’m kind of like the guinea pig,” she laughed.

Harris has plenty of support, though. Other area stakeholders and city officials have made the revitalization of Commercial Street a top priority.

Ron Walker, who is knee-deep in 12 Commercial Street projects, said the push is because the street is one of the city’s last underdeveloped historic districts.

“There’s really been no attention given to it,” said Walker, adding that downtown and Walnut Street still also present investment opportunities.

Walker owns four properties – 318 W. Commercial, 426–428 W. Commercial, 224 E. Commercial and 514 E. Commercial – and is rehabbing eight others for California investor Dan Baker.

Walker’s properties are or will be used for both residential and business space, with the spring reopening of Lindberg’s, 318 W. Commercial, as a music venue his most high-profile endeavor.

Fueling investments

Though past revitalization efforts have sputtered on Commercial Street, the combination of Walker and Baker may be the investment fuel that can sustain the journey.

Neither city officials nor private investors have determined how much money will need to be pumped into Commercial Street over the next five years or so to make it a success, but Baker gave the effort a good start when he paid about $1 million for his properties in mid-2004.

The Rev. James Harriger, executive director of longtime Commercial Street tenant Springfield Victory Mission, said Baker’s investment spurred others.

“That was a pretty big one-time wow that drew attention up here,” Harriger said. “We’ve never seen that sort of influx of capital up here.”

Plaza Realty broker Mark Harrell estimates 70 percent of the street still presents development opportunities.

Harrell, his brother, Scott Harrell, who’s also in real estate, Walker, architect Chris Ball and another unnamed person paid an undisclosed price for a 12,000-square-foot building at 224 E. Commercial, the current home of Class Act Flea Market. The group plans to turn the building into twofirst-floor businesses and four second-floor lofts beginning in February or March.

“It’s evident in downtown what can happen with these old structures and how they can become productive,” Mark Harrell said. “It takes investment and people and time.”

Strategy for a project of this size is essential, and that’s where senior city planner Vern Morgan comes in.

Morgan was the main author of a strategic plan presented to City Council Nov. 15, outlining the grand vision for the street. Live music is expected to be the catalyst in energizing the district.

Morgan and other officials visited nine cities – St. Louis; Kansas City; Memphis, Tenn.; Denver; Phoenix and Tempe, Ariz.; Boulder, Colo.; Philadelphia; New Orleans; and Austin, Texas – to see firsthand what worked in live-music districts. Six to nine live music venues are targeted to bring traffic to the district and give it a unique identity.

Other uses, including restaurant, retail and office spaces, would comprise 90 percent of the first-floor uses. The plan states that Commercial Street only has 32 percent of its first-floor business spaces occupied.

In all, there are approximately 100business spaces in 85 buildings.

Most development above ground level has been lofts. According to the plan, dated Aug. 15, the street already had 29 lofts with another 32 under construction.

Hot topics

Parking, streetscapes, district fund-raising, forgivable business loans and tax incentives will all be hot topics in the future.

The city plan calls for 900 parking spots – 621 more than currently exist.

The establishment of a community improvement district, tax increment financing, tax abatement, special events and even a district-run, revenue-generating haunted house also are discussed in the plan.

An estimated $125,000 would be needed to manage the district on an annual basis. The Urban Districts Alliance, a public-private nonprofit group, plans to add a fifth staff member to act as a liaison between the city, businesses and various community groups. The UDA also works downtown.

“We’re excited about the strategy that the stakeholders have developed there on Commercial Street,” said UDA Director Rusty Worley. “We want to take the lessons learned from downtown and incorporate those with our UDA staff to get those going right from the ground zero.”

Worley said he hopes to have his new employee, a community development coordinator, in place by spring or summer. Within a year, he said, he hopes to be working on issues such as district tax incentives.

Social services

Both Worley and Morgan said the existing social service organizations – Victory Mission and Missouri Hotel – would not be asked to leave Commercial Street.

According to Morgan’s plan, “Social service agencies and their clients will be integrated into the fabric of the street and provide a positive contribution to the economy.”

Victory Mission’s Harriger said he hasn’t felt pressure to move, and that city officials have even expressed interest in using people he trains through his group’s student-run restaurant, Cook’s Kettle, 1715 Boonville, to staff future restaurants or clubs on the street.

The Cook’s Kettle, he said, is teaching the disadvantaged valuable job skills.

“We will be training men who may be the employees in some of those clubs,” Harriger said. “At that point, we’re not the drain on the community; we’re very much contributing to the community.”

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