McDaniel, Woodruff buildings headed for public auction
Matt Wagner
Posted online
Two downtown Springfield landmarks - the McDaniel and Woodruff buildings - are again facing foreclosure.
The historic buildings on Park Central East are scheduled to be sold to the highest bidder Oct. 9 in a public auction on the steps of the Historic Greene County Courthouse, 940 Boonville Ave., according to legal notices recently published in The Daily Events.
Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank first initiated foreclosure proceedings in the spring, but Brett Loethen with Downtown Springfield Properties LLC, which owns both buildings, said he was confident the company could work out a deal with the lender.
At the time, Loethen told Springfield Business Journal he was blindsided by the bank's decision to call a $2.75 million loan made to Downtown Springfield Properties in 2004.
"They wanted us to refinance, and we tried to refinance and we had it under contract (last year)," Loethen told SBJ. "At first, the bank was patient with us, but I think they've grown consistently more and more impatient."
Loethen, who did not return calls for this story, and brother Bart, a Chicago attorney, own a majority of Downtown Springfield Properties, which purchased the two buildings and the Jordan Valley parking garage from Warren Davis Properties in 2002. Davis Properties had owned the buildings since 1994.
The McDaniel Building, 316-318 Park Central East, was built in 1914 and has roughly 45,000 square feet of leasable space. The Woodruff Building, 331 Park Central East, was built in 1909 and has about 75,000 square feet available for lease.
Loethen told SBJ in April that the Woodruff and parking garage were under contract for sale, and that the prospective buyer had entered a six-month due diligence phase.
Restoration St. Louis, a St. Louis-based firm that renovates historic buildings, briefly had the McDaniel and Woodruff buildings under contract in early 2007.
At the time, Restoration St. Louis - owned by husband-and-wife team Amy and Amrit Gill - had submitted a proposal to redevelop the Heer's building on Park Central Square as a mixed-use development with loft apartments, offices, a banquet hall and a basement-level bowling alley. The Gills later withdrew their Heer's proposal along with their offer to purchase and renovate the McDaniel and Woodruff buildings.
