Opinion: City plays into Hammons' hands, renews St. Louis Street turf battle

The city of Springfield could have ended the St. Louis Street turf battle after three rounds. With two development proposals for a 1.7-acre vacant downtown lot left on the table a month ago, city officials could have let the Tax Increment Financing Commission pick the more desirable option, sent it to City Council, and then celebrated the start of an overdue development project. (Remember, talks of a multipurpose arena on the site began in 2000.)

Instead, after announcing the legal need to reissue a request for proposal, the city has guaranteed Round 4 of “my plan is bigger than your plan” bickering.

It’s understandable, and probably is the right move to ensure that the city is on safe legal ground, but the players involved make the story line very intriguing.

A clashing of egos was no clearer than when hotelier John Q. Hammons held a press conference in the face of competitors Rick Huffman and financial backer Robert W. Plaster to announce his own four-star hotel plan – on space directly across the street from the city’s parcel, where Hammons already had been dismissed from competition. Now, it’s clear that announcement was a farce, as many had suspected.

Hammons even admitted his antics during an interview with the Springfield News-Leader. “I can’t build it there,” Hammons told the daily paper about his grand hotel idea on University Plaza property. “I was wrong.”

It seems to me Hammons intentionally misled the citizens of Springfield during a press conference at the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce unveiling “his vision” for a four-star property downtown that he never intended to build. Hammons also misled the TIF Commission – via spokesman Scott Tarwater – saying a hotel was not financially feasible on the city’s vacant lot.

And, because now he’s right back in the game, the city is playing right into Hammons’ hands. Instead of calling his bluff, and walking away from the table, the city has dealt Hammons another round.

All is not lost, however.

The contest may even gain a new contender – presumably a St. Louis developer that hasn’t gone public with plans.

Fortunately, neither the city nor Hammons has run Branson developer Rick Huffman out of town. With the $420 million Branson Landing on his résumé, Huffman is still in the mix.

He could have packed it up after these hang-ups, á la St. Louis developer Amrit Gill, who was bidding to redevelop the Heer’s building.

Gill dropped out of that project because he was reportedly frustrated with the process.

Despite the center city escapades, TIF commissioners could still analyze each proposal on its own merits. The process may be tainted, but the end result can be determined fairly.

The question is whether the commissioners will dock Hammons’ grade after all he’s dragged them through.

No matter the developer, it appears BKD LLP will keep its valuable headquarters downtown – a great coup for the future of center city – and the city will get out from under a portion or all of its $9 million Jordan Valley Car Park debt load. Good things are around the bend.

The city was expected to issue the second RFPs by April 23, with proposals due back in 30 days.

Boutique idea

On the other side of the downtown square, St. Louis developer Kevin McGowan, who surfaced as the last man standing to redevelop Heer’s, is contemplating two main components: a boutique hotel or condominiums.

The Eyes & Ears column in the Sept. 18 issue introduced the boutique hotel concept on the square, suggesting the former Mister Furniture building was the best spot, complete with a rooftop restaurant.

McGowan has the right idea for Heer’s with a top-floor banquet hall and an eighth-floor addition with a walk-out viewing deck. And he’s absolutely right that for the Heer’s hotel to thrive it must overlook a much-improved square. Good for him, the city and Urban Districts Alliance already is taking steps to identify what the public would want out of a redesigned square.

Eric Olson is Springfield Business Journal editor. He can be reached at eolson@sbj.net.[[In-content Ad]]