Overheard

The Quail Creek Plaza retail center in southwest Springfield is beginning to fill up.

Leasing agent Ken Schwab has leased space to a new restaurant franchise, Indigo Joe’s Sports Bar, which is scheduled to open June 19. Brown Derby Stores Inc. has leased through leasing agent Teresa Schwab about 3,500 square feet to sell wine and spirits. Developer Bill Jester’s 28,000-square-foot Quail Creek Plaza was completed in January at 1440 W. Republic Road. Indigo Joe’s is a California-based chain with 25 locations.

Neighborhood Advocates

The Urban Neighborhoods Alliance held its second annual volunteer recognition picnic, in conjunction with its annual meeting June 10 in Jordan Valley Park. The organization honored individuals and institutions from each neighborhood submitting nominations and one institution outside of the UNA footprint: Margaret Blakey and St. Joseph Catholic Church in Grant Beach; Abbe Ehlers and CoxHealth in Midtown; Bob Grand in West Central; and Charlie Norr and Woodland Heights Presbyterian Church in Woodland Heights. Great Southern Bank was recognized as the institution outside of UNA’s boundaries. Each honoree received a custom glass vase from Springfield Hot Glass Studio. Springfield Business Journal Editor Eric Olson served as judge along with Peggy Riggs of Springfield Public Schools and Ryan Mooney of Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.

Price Cutter Park Tenant

The Ozark Generals baseball team is the new tenant of Price Cutter Park, the former home of the Springfield-Ozark Mountain Ducks, which left Ozark in 2004. The park has been empty since then, though occasional community events were held there.

Talks of moving the Generals to the Ozark park began in August, according to coach Rusty Aton, and were finalized in October. The ball club is renting the park from owner Horn Chen through park manager and real estate agent Brad Eldridge. The team was formed in 1945 and previously played at Meador Park in Springfield. The team is a not-for-profit organization and is governed by a board of directors. The Generals’ season runs through July.

Speaking of Baseball ...

AT&T launched this month streaming online episodes of athletes, including St. Louis Cardinals All-Star Albert Pujols giving exclusive peeks at their homes, hobbies and tech habits.

The Web series is called AT&T Home Turf and is available at www.seehowtheylive.com. Pujols visited Springfield for the inaugural game at Hammons Field last year. Other athletes include Andy Roddick, who played at Cooper Tennis Complex with World Team Tennis, David Ortiz, Landon Donovan, Vladimir Guerrero, Nomar Garciaparra (with significant other Mia Hamm) and Derrek Lee.