New building owner paints over iconic downtown mural

This weekend, a longstanding mural honoring a nationally prominent Springfield artist was suddenly painted over, raising alarm among members of the arts community and a social media response that surprised the building’s new owner.

The mural, located on the Campbell Avenue side of Loomi Candle Bar at the southwest corner of Campbell and Walnut Street, was a community tribute to Robert E. Smith by artists Ben Bunch and Ryan Thayer, based on a painting by Smith.

Smith was characterized as a folk or outsider artist whose work featured lively, colorful, childlike scenes, and the mural that was covered over depicted numerous urban vignettes, including local businesses and activity on Park Central Square and elsewhere in the city.

The Greene County assessor lists the owner of the building as FUBAR HQ LLC. Reached by phone this morning, David Pere, who is CEO of financial advising company FMTM LLC, said he purchased the building at 400 W. Walnut St. in October 2025 and paid $500,000 for it. His company will be going into the space now occupied by Loomi, he said, adding Loomi’s lease runs through the end of April.

Reached today, Pere said he would not have anticipated the public response that painting the building has received.

“I understand now that that mural was important to a lot of people,” he said.

However, leading up to the painting, Pere said he tried to perform due diligence as a property owner.

“I asked a whole bunch of people about it and got deadpan looks,” he said. “I brought it up to the city, and they said, ‘It’s your building; you can do whatever you want.’ It didn’t seem to be a colossal deal.”

The mural was painted over initially in gray primer in preparation for a black background that is already partially completed. Pere said he has commissioned a muralist from Austin, Texas, to come to Springfield and make a new mural on the wall with a bald eagle as its centerpiece.

“The whole building is going to be turned into a very patriotic mural for us,” he said. “We’ve had this vision for a long time. It’s going to be incredibly well done.”

Pere said he has contracted with the artist for $50,000 – a discounted rate from an artist who does high-end work nationally. Pere, who is traveling home to Springfield from an event in Tennessee, said he did not have the artist’s name readily at hand. The new mural is expected to be completed by the end of March, he said. Pere’s business – FMTM stands for From Military to Millionaire – helps service members achieve financial freedom, and the artwork envisioned will honor veterans as they visit Springfield for his company’s services.

From Military to Millionaire does business all over the country, Pere said, but with the new headquarters, he will be able to bring veterans into the Queen City to learn about house flipping, maximizing benefits, wholesaling, business in general and even personal finance and budgeting.

“We thought, ‘What if we had our own space where we could host 40-60 veterans?’” Pere said. “They’ll be staying in hotels and using downtown restaurants. I’d much rather pour into Springfield longterm and invest here, rather than pump up other economies.”

The doors of the company will also be open for business networking events, hangouts and entrepreneurial efforts currently hosted in other places, Pere said, adding that he aims to provide a safe space to offer financial help to service members and veterans.

“We’re going to start getting involved in the chamber, and we’re at a point now where we can give back – and we want to,” he said.

Pere said he has received some emails and seen some online posts that he characterized as nasty, and that has been unfortunate, since his intentions have been positive.

He added that the mural honoring Smith was not in good shape.

“It was kind of falling apart – admittedly, it’s not my style for what I would have chosen as art, but I don’t dislike the art or the artist,” he said. “There was no disrespect meant at all.”

Pere added that he asked Springfield city officials in Planning & Development what he needed to know about repainting a mural, and he was told that structural changes would require a permit, but there were no code-related issues with paint, so he didn’t have anything to worry about.

Springfield Business Journal was not immediately successful in reaching city officials this morning for verification.

Pere said the new mural promises to be a beautiful piece of art that is very well done.

“We’re definitely not trying to cause a ruckus – or we are trying to cause a ruckus, but it’s a ruckus that attracts service members and veterans that want to make a difference in their lives and find their purpose again,” he said. “We’re investing long term in Springfield, and we want to plant a flag for what we believe in.”

Protections needed
Meg Wagler, muralist and director of mural-focused nonprofit Overlay Inc., said she found out about the loss of the Smith tribute mural online in real time.

“It wasn’t announced; there were no public statements,” she said. “Of course, my initial response is just disappointment at a core level. This piece was a staple in the community regardless of whether or not it was liked or revered by all people equally. That’s the beauty of public art. If you don’t like a piece, move past it. If you do like it, have brunch nearby; take photos.”

Wagler said diversity of styles is important, and the mural that was covered was an homage to an internationally acclaimed artist that was painted by community members.

“It’s a disappointment as an artist that a building owner acts with such disregard about that artwork, but also as a community member to say that was part of our visual textural fabric of what we have attached identity to,” she said.

As a leader of an arts organization, Wagler said, what this means to her is that there should be some structural guardrails and processes in place to protect artwork.

“Overlay continues to have conversations about that from a policy perspective,” she said.

She added that her organization is available to answer questions if any property owner or prospective buyer wants to ask about best practices for working with existing or planned murals. Overlay puts on a festival centered on painting large public murals, first held in 2022 as MidxMidwst and held again in 2025 as Overlay.

The issue came to light through photographs posted online by Jesse Tyler, a partner with Springfield lifestyle brand SGFCO LLC. Tyler, who identifies as “a hardcore downtowner,” said he was dismayed by what he was seeing as the mural was being covered.

“I knew it was a big deal. I didn’t quite know how much it would explode,” he said.

Tyler called the destruction of the mural egregious.

“There was no reason for it to happen to one of the most important and beloved pieces of public art downtown,” he said. “The absurdity of this is clear. Everyone knows this is wrong the moment you see it.”

But he said some good may have come out of the incident.

“There’s an incredible amount of energy being shown around this, and I’m thinking a lot about how that gets channeled,” he said. “If we don’t want to see these things covered or deteriorating, they must be maintained – not just physically, but with the maintenance of reminding people that they matter to us.”