Ozark, Christian County poised for growth

Last edited 2:06 p.m., Oct. 29, 2025 [Editor's note: More information has been added.]

By just about any metric, the city of Ozark is in a growth mode.

On Oct. 20, the city’s Board of Aldermen held a first reading and public hearing on the proposed 229-acre, 18-phase mixed-use Marabella development that would include nearly 800 dwelling units (see page 3).

The sign is already up for a new Aldi supermarket, under construction in the 26-acre Ozark Marketplace commercial development at the interchange of Highway 65 and South Street. Ozark Mayor Don Currence says commercial offerings like this could help residents to be able to find what they need at home, rather than having to travel to Springfield.

Infrastructure improvements are also in the works, including a Highway 65 overpass for the Chadwick Flyer multimodal trail, connecting Ozark to Springfield.

Additionally, the city is working on the extension and connection of 17th and 18th streets east of Highway 65 through a $2 million grant from the Missouri Department of Economic Development. The grant, announced in September 2024, was secured through a partnership between the city and three private companies – Creative Audio, Driven Fulfillment and Marketing LLC and Nail Supply Inc. – and is tied to the potential creation of some 100 jobs, according to Kristen Haseltine, president and CEO of Show Me Christian County.

The city experienced a hitch in its progress, though, with plans to build a boulevard with a landscaped median on State Highway CC just west of 65. That’s where developer Curtis Jared, president and CEO of Jared Enterprises Inc., has a commercial property teed up with interested parties at the ready.

Jared’s project could have been given a boost by the road widening project, which would have buried utilities while also reducing the likelihood of accidents at intersections on the route.

The problem: A property owner with a century farm priced his property well out of range for Ozark to acquire the right of way, according to Jeremy Parsons, Ozark’s Public Works director, so the project was revised.

“We had to punt,” Parsons said.

The property owner, identified by Jared and confirmed by Parsons as Kyle Estes, was reportedly not interested in the $15 per square foot that the city was offering. A decade earlier, the Estes family had sold a corner of their property to Casey’s for about $8 per foot. Today, Parsons said Estes conveyed to the city at a public meeting that his price would be more like $30-$40 per foot.

However, Estes told Springfield Business Journal Oct. 28 that he did not receive an offer from the city of Ozark or any other party. Further, he said a planned stoplight would have negatively impacted his own 1-acre commercial lot across from Jared’s.

“That easement would have literally split my lot in half,” he said. “That didn’t leave me with a usable lot at all.”

In response to a follow-up email query, Parsons said Ozark contracted with Olsson Inc. to complete the Route CC widening plans, and that company’s final estimates included $4.2 million in right-of-way costs, meaning right of way accounted for 31% of the budget.

“The new total project estimate was almost $15 million, or $5 million over the original budgeted costs,” Parsons said. “Even though this was an approved cost share with the Missouri Department of Transportation, the City of Ozark could simply not afford to move forward with the project. Negotiations for right-of-way did not begin.”

The project would have readied the corridor for development, according to Parsons, and was an example of the city attempting to be proactive instead of reactive.

“In our eyes, spending those types of tax dollars on greenfield land just so we can be proactive is not the best use of taxpayer dollars,” he said. “That literally shut that project down.”

Parsons said the city determined its money would be better spent by improvements to aid traffic flow and safety on 22nd Street.

Cameron Smith, Ozark’s assistant city administrator, said there is always a balance to be struck where growth is concerned.

“A lot of people are scared we’re growing too fast, and we have in past years,” he said.

Smith grew up in Ozark, and he has witnessed the change.

“When you’re here daily, it’s like watching your kid grow,” he said. “He doesn’t seem to be growing that fast, but he is.”

Ozark grew by 9.2% to a population of just over 23,000 from 2020 to 2024 – slightly outpaced by its Christian County neighbor, Nixa, which grew by 13.27% to a population of more than 26,000.

Currence pointed to a strategic plan, passed in 2024, guiding Ozarks’ growth, plus other guidance documents, like 2018 plans for the Finley River Redevelopment Area and for city parks and prior plans for the downtown, the retail market and residential markets.

But, Currence said, people see the construction on South Street with the Ozark Marketplace going in and they don’t like the congestion.

“It’s inconvenient for them trying to get to 65,” he said.

Ozark has a lot to offer, Currence said, starting with its location, 10 miles south of Springfield and 24 miles north of Branson. It has amenities, like trails and parks, and a school system people are eager to send their kids to.

“A lot of retirees want to be here,” he said. “It’s a safe place – our public safety is so strong.”

The trend is not specific to Ozark, Smith said.

“Other surrounding communities are seeing the same growth,” he said. “There are natural recreational and quality-of-life benefits, and we can find everything we need in Springfield, if we have to get outside of Ozark. There are vast opportunities for quality of life here.”

Opportunities
Christian County, which includes Ozark, has an opportunity to embrace its strengths and set its own path, according to Jeff Pinkerton, director of economic research for the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

Pinkerton spoke to the members of economic development organization Show Me Christian County earlier this month.

“Post-pandemic, the Missouri economy really picked up the pace,” he said, noting the state had lagged behind surrounding states previously but gained ground in late 2018 and 2019. After the pandemic, the state’s economic growth was on par with that of the nation as a whole, and now it is outpacing many other states.

Looking under the hood, Pinkerton said, Missouri’s manufacturing sector is growing at a rate that far outpaces the national growth rate.

“Frankly, this has always been a pretty good place to do manufacturing,” he said, adding that the state has been aided by a move to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. after 2021 supply-chain issues.

Manufacturing was the largest employing industry in the region in 2024 with 22,400 jobs.

Regionally, food production in southwest Missouri is particularly strong, Pinkerton said. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show roughly 7,300 people in the region involved in food manufacturing, with BLS data finding the industry has more than five times the share of local jobs compared to the national economy. Another key industry within manufacturing is fabricated metal products of all types, he said.

Transportation has also been an area of growth for a state conveniently positioned in the center of the country.

“That’s a meat-and-potatoes industry for helping Missouri drive its economy,” he said.

Southwest Missouri has more than four times the share of local jobs in truck transportation when compared to the nation, according to the BLS, and employs 4,785 people. Pinkerton said that shows huge strength for that sector in the region, reflecting a great location for interstate and rail access.

Along with manufacturing and transportation, tourism rounds out what Pinkerton said were three solid industries for the region.

“When I think about southwest Missouri, you make things, you ship things and you entertain people,” he said.

Pinkerton said he also sees opportunities for growth in Christian County in the professional, scientific and technical services sector.

“Pockets in Missouri are solid, but we lag in that industry,” he said. “I’d like to see a little more diversity statewide and see that sector grow a little bit more.”

With its strength and agriculture and transportation, Christian County and the region could position themselves as leaders in those categories of the professional, scientific and technical services sector.

“It doesn’t have to recreate Silicon Valley,” he said. “It can be a leader in those broad categories by providing expertise.”

In southwest Missouri, Pinkerton said a technological niche could be found in manufacturing or logistics.

Christian County has been the fastest-growing county in the state based on population since 2020 on a percentage basis, Pinkerton said, and the sixth-fastest on a raw number basis, with Greene County in fourth place.

Growth is happening through the entire southwest Missouri region, with Springfield as its epicenter, Pinkerton said. He added that within the state, gross domestic product growth for the region has been the second-fastest since 2010 next to Kansas City.

Haseltine said the presentation offered important food for thought.

“Southwest Missouri is the powerhouse for the state right now,” she said. “The growth in manufacturing and the job creation – people that are moving here: I think sometimes we get lost in it because we are in our little bubble, but if you zoom out, we are really doing well.”

Approaches to growth
Jackie Barger, an investor member of Show Me Christian County, is executive director of Ozark-based Children’s Smile Center, which is soon to shift its operations to Nixa with a new headquarters now under construction there.

Barger said Pinkerton’s presentation confirmed what Christian Countians have known for a long time: “There are significant advantages for economic development in Christian County,” he said. “Southwest Missouri drives the economy for the state of Missouri. It has for the last 20 years, and it continues to be well positioned to do that.”

Barger said there are two approaches to growing the local economy. One is to aim for diversity, which can help a county to weather cycles within sectors of its economy, and the other is to identify what the county is good at and aim to do a lot more of that.

Pinkerton said Christian County is doing many things well.

“If you’re attracting population growth like they are, you’re doing a lot of things right,” he said. “Christian County has got a lot of good things going for it. Most counties would be envious.”

But he said the county is at a point where it has an opportunity – and, he heard from Show Me Christian County members, a desire – to diversify its economy a little more, he said.

Haseltine said a way Christian County can maximize its preparedness is through investment in infrastructure.

“Infrastructure plays a major role in business location decisions. Having these systems already in place near a developable site dramatically reduces costs and accelerates timelines,” she said.