Marshfield, Forsyth experience commercial growth

Regional communities are continuing to develop commercial projects, among them new restaurant and expanded retail operations in Marshfield, and a new Country Mart and shopping center in Forsyth.

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|ret|Marshfield

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|ret|Dos Amigos Cantina opened at 1369 Spur Drive in Marshfield on Sept. 29, said Ginger Ostrowski, general manager. The Yellow Hat, a Chinese restaurant, last occupied the space. The building is owned by Peter Lai.

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|ret|The restaurant owned by Matt Wardle holds 80 people and has 26 employees, Ostrowski said.

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|ret|Larry McCormack, Marshfields building regulator, said the restaurant is the first in Marshfield to serve liquor by the drink.

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|ret|After a year in operation, One Dollar Super Store has changed storefronts and increased its square footage from 4,000 to 6,000 square feet at 1100 Spur Drive in the Biggs Shopping Center, said Sarah Wise, store manager. The store has six part-time employees. Tom Mulrenin is the owner.

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|ret|Label Solutions is planning a 3,600-square-foot expansion to its current 12,600-square-foot facility to accommodate administrative operations, said Rick Jones, owner and CEO. The company, which manufactures pressure-sensitive paper and film labels used in the welding and food industries, is located at 503 George St. and employs 18, said Karen Stevens, office manager. It has operated under its current name for 2 1/2 years; before that it was known as Techstar Label, she added.

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|ret|Southern Missouri Bank of Marshfield is handling the financing, Stevens said. Costs have not yet been determined.

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|ret|Marshfield lies 22 miles northeast of Springfield on Interstate 44 and has a population of 5,720.

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|ret|Forsyth

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|ret|A 32,446-square-foot Country Mart under construction at 15720 U.S. Highway 160 is set to open at the end of October, said Dave Gyger, building inspector for Forsyth. The cost is about $1.9 million and is being financed by Ozark Mountain Bank. Doug Gerard is the owner.

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|ret|The general contractor for the project is Ozark Supermarket Builders; Harold Gray is the project manager, and Springfield-based Slone Architects Inc. is the architect.

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|ret|Gerard owns Country Marts in Hollister, Branson and Branson West.

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|ret|At 14974 U.S. Highway 160, Scott Novak and Don Burkett are building the White River Plaza Shopping Center. The two-tier structure will be 33,890 square feet and could accommodate as many as 20 tenants, Novak said.

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|ret|Theyre pouring the footings and the foundation right now, Gyger said. Anticipated completion date is about Jan. 1. The estimated cost is $1.1 million, financed over 10 years by First Community Bank of Taney County.

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|ret|The general contractor is Morgan Development Co. of Fayette, and the project manager is Joe Novak. The architect is Larry Nelson from Springfield.

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|ret|Rents at the new shopping center will be about $9.50 per square foot, said Novak. The tenants will be Dollar General with 8,160 square feet, Subway Sandwiches and Salads with 1,500 square feet, Family Pharmacy with 3,000 square feet, a laundromat with 4,000 square feet, Going Postal with 1,500 square feet and Novaks own Ozark Mountain Pawn Shop with 3,000 square feet.

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|ret|The new Dollar General will employ six to 10 employees, said Andrea Turner, media relations manager for Dollar General. She said Dollar General Corp. owns all its stores. We just work with the landlord to build a building to our specifications and then we will lease it for a certain number of years, she added. About 60 percent of its stores are in shopping centers; the rest are free-standing.

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|ret|Forsyth, which lies east of Branson on Highway 160 and has a population of 1,700, also is considering a new post office.

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|ret|Weve got zero parking for this office, said Postmaster Tim Fleetwood. There are 1,340 post office boxes at the Forsyth post office and about 1,600 outside addresses located on route, he said. Seven full-time and three part-time employees handle delivery throughout the five-mile radius, which covers the 65653 ZIP code.

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|ret|There are two sites that have met the criteria for the U.S. Postal Service, said Mayor Jim Berry. A new structure is being contemplated.

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|ret|There was no existing structure that Im aware of that was presented to them that met their criteria.

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|ret|The post office is currently in a 30-day holding period to give Forsyth a chance for input regarding the two proposed sites, said Russ Rainey, project manger for the U.S. Postal Service in Denver. At the end of this period there will be another meeting and a site will be chosen, he added.

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|ret|Following these steps is final funding approval, which can take up to three months. Thereafter, a developer is solicited and awarded the contract, Rainey said.

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|ret|A new facility would run about 5,000 square feet and the minimum acreage required would be about 1.25 acres, Fleetwood said. The current post office is about 3,600 square feet. In addition to the space increase, Fleetwood would like to see a drive-up mailbox added.

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|ret|The post offices current lease runs out in 2005, Fleetwood said. Weve got to be out of here by March of 2005. Theres no options.

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