On the Market

Industrial and office properties are filling up in the Springfield area but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still opportunities in the commercial market.

Last month, commercial property tracker Xceligent released its second-quarter Market Trends Report. The report, which identifies significant decreases in vacancies in the industrial and office sectors, represents activity in Springfield, Strafford, Rogersville, Ozark, Nixa, Republic and Willard.

The industrial vacancy rate dropped to 4.4 percent for the quarter ended June 30, compared to 5.6 percent in the same quarter last year. Office vacancies fell to 9.3 percent from 10.3 percent, and retail vacancies inched up in the quarter to 5.3 percent from 5.1 percent in 2013.

Among the more notable commercial properties on the market at the end of July is the Holland Building, 205 Park Central East. For sale by architect Allen Casey for $3.27 million, the office and retail property is listed by CJR Commercial Group Realtor Skip Liebman.

Liebman said on July 29 that the renovated building went on the market about 90 days ago because Casey wants to concentrate on his architectural practice and not the building’s management.

“He doesn’t have to sell it, but I think like a lot of guys who have reached a certain point in their lives, he wants to take a little bit off of his plate,” Liebman said, adding Casey Architecture plans to remain a tenant of the downtown building.

He said three potential buyers are interested in the building but declined to disclose names.

“Whether any of them move forward on it is the $64,000 question,” Liebman said.

Among other properties, Liebman also just listed a 35,000-square-foot warehouse in the Fox Hollow Industrial Park. The $1.2 million property at 2160 N. Fox Hollow Drive is owned by RJB Real Estate LLC. About a third of the office and warehouse property is vacant, Liebman said.

Among notable properties for sale are four Price Cutter stores listed by Mike Fusek of Sperry Van Ness/Rankin Co. In all, the Springfield area properties, which include the West Republic Road store, are listed for $14.7 million. Fusek also listed the now-vacant Fitness 19 property at 210 E. Sunshine St. for lease at $11 per square foot.

Further east on Sunshine, R.B. Murray Co. is selling the 19,000-square-foot KPM CPAs office building for $2.2 million.

Across the market, Liebman said multifamily properties have been popular buys in the past year.

“Multifamily continues to be a hot spot,” Liebman said. “In my own experience, I’d say warehouse would come in second and office and retail third.”

During the past 10 months, Gregg Stancer of Nixa-based Gregg Stancer Realty sold five multifamily apartments, with the latest – the $7.5 million Scenic Station apartments near Scenic Avenue and Bennett Street – closing on July 31. All five sold to two real estate investment groups that wanted a presence in the Springfield market, he said. The moves helped make the past year one of the best of Stancer’s roughly 30-year real estate career, he said.  

“Investors have switched to multifamily, but large buildings of any kind – anything over 20,000 square feet – aren’t on the market but for a few weeks,” Stancer said.  

In early August, Stancer expects to close on the nearly 50,000-square-foot Orscheln Farm and Home retail store in Ozark. The former Wal-Mart store just northwest of U.S. 65 and Highway 14 was listed for $1.47 million and is being purchased by a Kansas City-based client.

“It is an investor who is going to put a retail tenant in the building,” Stancer said, declining to disclose the buyer. He said Orscheln plans to move out when its lease is up next year.

Stancer believes large vacant area properties are a hot commodity because there is only so much space available. According to Xceligent’s report, of the 16.8 million square feet of retail inventory in the area, about 890,000 square feet was vacant and 1.1 million square feet was available.

“Large buildings do not stay on the market very long. In fact, many don’t even make it to the marketplace,” Stancer said.

He points to the June announcement of retailer At Home moving into the 120,000-square-foot Kmart building on South Campbell Avenue on the heels of Kmart’s closure as a recent example.

“[Orscheln] is another scenario where the building has sold before the tenants have even moved out yet,” he said.

On July 3, Ken Schwab of Wilhoit Properties sold the former University of Phoenix building to an unnamed investor. Schwab said the property will be the new home of Ozark-based software firm HealthcareFirst.

Stancer, who had worked to sell the property with R.B. Murray two years ago, said he assisted Schwab, the selling agent, with finding the buyer after the school announced it was leaving. Schwab said part of the more than 28,000-square-foot facility will be remodeled for HealthcareFirst, and the software firm is expected to move in by Nov. 1.

“It’s going to be a major employer. That’s one of the larger office buildings in town,” Stancer said.  

Through Midwest Property Investment LLC, investment partners Todd Johnson and Ken Straus purchased the Tuscany Court property in the third quarter of 2012, according to Springfield Business Journal archives. Weeks later, the school announced it would begin phasing out operations in 2013.

The building had been listed for $3.3 million, according to GStancer.com, but Stancer said it sold for under list price.

Other properties still on the market include: the former McDaniel School building turned office space at 237 S. Florence Ave., $1.59 million; a 42,000-square-foot industrial property for lease at $4.25 per square foot per year at 4520 W. Kearney St.; and the 23,000-square-foot former Country Home Collection Retail building at 1929 E. Bennett St., $799,900.