Landmarks Board member calls Galloway Village demolition ‘a sad loss’ to community

The Springfield Landmarks Board member who attempted to secure a historic site designation for a 1929-built Galloway Village store building expressed disappointment in the demolition that began yesterday.

Genevieve Henry, interior architect and lead designer with interior design and architecture firm Frisco & Fin LLC and vice chair of the Landmarks Board, said via email that the building’s demolition was “a sad loss for our community.”

“I know many neighbors and community members fought hard for this building and cared deeply about trying to see it saved,” she said.

Henry made a motion at the May 6 Landmarks Board meeting to recommend designating the building, variously named Treadway’s Store and the Sequiota Store, as a historic site. Her motion died for lack of a second, with the board opting to postpone consideration of the application by the Galloway Village Neighborhood Association while it asked for feedback from the property owners. The board directed city staff to reach out to the owners before its June monthly meeting. Three representatives of the neighborhood association were present and President Melanie Bach requested permission to speak, but the board declined the request.

The owners of the property at 3535 S. Lone Pine Ave. are Mitch and Amanda Jenkins, through their company Galloway Village LLC.

The Jenkinses are working on an unspecified development on the site following a 2022 citywide referendum disallowing rezoning for a mixed-use commercial and residential development by another of their companies, Elevation Enterprises LLC.

Mitch Jenkins did not respond to a request for comment on the demolition.

Springfield Business Journal also sought comment from Henry, who responded yesterday with an email in which she stressed the value of historic preservation.

“As a community I feel that we need to stop looking at preservation as simply sentimental,” she said. “It’s economic development, environmental sustainability, job creation and an investment in heritage trades and local craftsmanship.”

Henry said heritage tourism is growing nationwide, and those communities that embrace strong preservation efforts reap the benefits of tourism revenue.

She added that preservation incentives can be transformative for property owners and communities alike, noting that Missouri has a strong tax credit program that covers up to 55% of qualified rehabilitation expenses. She added that the state documented $1.4 billion in qualified rehabilitation expenditures in fiscal years 2021-25. That figure is included in a National Park Service Technical Preservation Services publication released this month.

“A lot of property owners simply don’t realize these incentives, resources and opportunities exist until it’s too late,” Henry said. “If we want to save historic places in Springfield, these conversations have to happen earlier – with more awareness, education and proactive community support before buildings reach this stage.”

She added, “Thoughtful growth and preservation do not have to be at odds with each other.”

Notably, the development proposal voted down in 2022’s referendum on rezoning the property would have incorporated adaptive reuse of the Treadway’s Store building into the larger development whose designs included retail, office and restaurant space along with two multifamily buildings, according to past SBJ reporting. That development would have covered 4 acres with 100 apartment units.

At the May 6 Landmarks Board meeting, Henry clarified in her remarks that a historic site designation would not have saved the structure. The board’s website explains that historic sites require either a certificate of appropriateness or economic hardship for demolition, or there is merely a wait of 60 days after an application is submitted.

The application explained the historic significance of the building, stating, “The store is one of three remaining historic structures across from Sequiota Park, contributing to the historic character of the Galloway corridor and reinforcing the area’s early 20th-century identity and historic charm.”

It adds that despite alterations, the building remains in its original location, massing and relationship to the roadway and is a rare surviving example of early automobile-era roadside architecture.

“It continues to convey the feeling and association of a rural commercial stop and remains historically legible within its setting,” the application states.

The building was a remnant of the neighborhood’s existence as Galloway Village, a town distinct and separate from the city of Springfield, built around the Ash Grove Lime Co. quarry operations.