New building to consolidate Hamra Enterprises, law office

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For years Springfield attorney and businessman Sam F. Hamra Jr. has wanted to consolidate his business entities and law firm into his own office building. The Dec. 28, 2001, groundbreaking for Hamra Plaza was a big step in that direction.|ret||ret||tab|

The two-story corporate office structure, worth approximately $3 million, will be constructed at 1855 S. Ingram Mill Road and is scheduled for completion by Oct. 1. Killian Construction Company is the general contractor and Rita A. Baron, associate AIA of Farnsworth Group Architects, is project designer. Ozark Bank is providing the fi-nancing for the project.|ret||ret||tab|

"We had been planning on having our own office building for several years ... ," Hamra said by telephone from Naples, Fla. "You always have that kind of in the back of your mind to do something."|ret||ret||tab|

The 27,000-square-foot building will serve as Hamra's law office and as the center of his corporate operations. Ham-ra Enterprises is comprised of Wendy's Missouri Inc., James River Inns LLC, SJH Inns LP, Chicago Bread LLC, Bos-ton Bread LLC and Jade Properties LLC.|ret||ret||tab|

Hamra owns 22 Wendy's restaurants in Missouri, mostly in mid- and southwest Missouri. He has been a Wendy's franchise owner since 1975. |ret||ret||tab|

Also locally, he is co-owner with Gor-don Elliott of Springfield's Baymont Inns and Suites Hotel at 3776 S. Glen-stone. Hamra is sole owner of another Baymont Inns and Suites in Lewisville, Texas.|ret||ret||tab|

The other business ventures include the St. Louis Bread Company franchise for half of Chicago and all of Boston. Outside of Missouri the restaurants are known as Panera Bread, of which Hamra said he owns 12 in Chicago and seven in Boston.|ret||ret||tab|

"We anticipate that we'll open another four in Chicago this year and another two in Boston this year," he said of his upcoming business moves.|ret||ret||tab|

Hamra said Jade Properties LLC is a Missouri real estate development company.|ret||ret||tab|

All of Hamra's operations are now located on two floors of Corporate Cen-tre on East Sunshine.|ret||ret||tab|

He said Hamra Enterprises will occupy approximately 14,000 square feet on the first floor and the second floor's 13,000 square feet will be leased.|ret||ret||tab|

"We're going to make the property available and then we'll look at different tenants and decide whether we want one (single tenant) or several (tenants)," he said.|ret||ret||tab|

According to project designer Baron, the building was planned with a strong use of natural light in mind.|ret||ret||tab|

"That's one of the nice features about the building, there is much natural light throughout," she said. "It's hard to make sure every office has a window, but we managed to do that."|ret||ret||tab|

Another unique feature is the 40-foot glass facade entryway that encloses the two-story atrium. Baron added that once inside the lobby, visitors will be welcomed by a waterfall and sculpture.|ret||ret||tab|

Baron, who has completed numerous projects for Hamra in the past, said the rest of the interior will be highlighted by cherry wood, granite, ceramic tile and marble.|ret||ret||tab|

The exterior will be constructed of pre-cast concrete panels with a top border of granite.|ret||ret||tab|

The site is on a Hamra-owned parcel of land: the Hamra-Morris subdivision. Hamra Plaza is being constructed on Lot 3, at the southwest corner of East Sun-shine and Ingram Mill.[[In-content Ad]]