Owner of McDaniel, Woodruff buildings blindsided by public auction notices

The owner of two downtown Springfield landmarks scheduled to be auctioned on the steps of the Historic Greene County Courthouse later this month said published legal notices took him by complete surprise.

The McDaniel and Woodruff buildings on Park Central East are scheduled to be sold to the highest bidder April 30 in a public auction on the steps of courthouse, 940 Boonville Ave., according to legal notices published this week in The Daily Events.

But Brett Loethen with Downtown Springfield Properties LLC, which owns both buildings and a parking garage to the east, told Springfield Business Journal in a phone interview this morning that the sale won't go through.

"They will not be auctioned off," he said. "I don't think we'll have a problem getting something worked out."

Loethen said that - unbeknownst to him - Cincinnati-based Fifth Third Bank recently called a $2.75 million loan made to Downtown Springfield Properties in 2004.

"They wanted us to refinance, and we tried to refinance and we had it under contract (last year)," Loethen said, adding that the deal eventually fell through. "At first, the bank was patient with us, but I think they've grown consistently more and more impatient."

Downtown Springfield Properties - majority owned by Loethen and his brother, Bart, a Chicago attorney - purchased the two buildings and the Jordan Valley parking garage from Warren Davis Properties in 2002, according to previous SBJ coverage. Davis Properties had owned the buildings since 1994.

The McDaniel Building, 316-318 Park Central East, was built in 1914 and has roughly 45,000 square feet of leasable space. The Woodruff Building, 331 Park Central East, was built in 1909 and has about 75,000 square feet available for lease.

Restoration St. Louis, a St. Louis-based firm that renovates historic buildings, briefly had the McDaniel and Woodruff buildings under contract in early 2007. At the time, the company - owned by husband-and-wife team Amy and Amrit Gill - had submitted a proposal to redevelop the Heer's building as a mixed-use development with loft apartments, offices, a banquet hall and a basement-level bowling alley. The Gills later withdrew their Heer's proposal along with their offer to purchase and renovate the McDaniel and Woodruff buildings.

Loethen said the Woodruff and parking garage are again under contract, and that the prospective buyer is engaged in a six-month due diligence process.[[In-content Ad]]