Local company donates property to Habitat

Habitat President Neil Guion announces at the organization's annual meeting Wednesday the donation of commercial property at 2410 S. Scenic in Springfield.

Keltner Enterprises will hand over the 19,240-square-foot building later this year when the building's current tenant, Spec Building Materials, finishes its lease term.

“We are amazed and just so thankful for their generosity,” said Anna Codutti, director of development and community relations for Habitat. “It means more to us than we can say, and it's really going to help us continue to benefit more deserving families in Greene County.”

The commercial appraised value of the building is $372,000, according to the Greene County Assessor's Office.

The property will serve as the site for Habitat offices, warehouses for construction materials and the Habitat ReStore, which will be relocated from its rented location at 4535 W. Chestnut Expressway.

Once in its new location, the ReStore will use its added space to offer affordable furniture - something space limitations kept it from doing before, Codutti said. The store also will continue to sell new and used building materials.

Codutti said few renovations will be needed to prepare the building for Habitat's move.

The elimination of rent is expected to result in enough savings to fund the construction of an extra house every year. Habitat will lease the land the building is located on from Union Pacific Railroad.