Plans underway to try again to develop a contested Galloway Village site

Last edited 12:35 p.m., May 5, 2026 [Editor's note: More information was added, and an address was corrected.]

Developers Mitch and Amanda Jenkins are again considering a development on a contested property in Galloway Village.

Mitch Jenkins confirmed the plans to redevelop the site at 3535 S. Lone Pine Ave. this morning in a statement to Springfield Business Journal. Plumbing, wrecking and building project permits are on file with the city of Springfield under the Jenkinses’ Galloway Village LLC.

Arkifex Studios LLC is listed as the architect on the project in the building permits, and H.C. Rogers Construction Group LLC is listed as the general contractor. Greene County assessor records show that the property at 3535 S. Lone Pine Ave. was purchased by Galloway Village LLC on March 6. 

“Those filings were submitted following extended planning and review,” Jenkins said. “The site has been deliberately planned over several years, with a focus on preserving several existing structures, maintaining mature trees and preserving green space within a neighborhood-scale design intended to fit within its surroundings and strengthen the character of the neighborhood.”

The permits filed April 29 note plan for the project starts with the wrecking of the existing building on the site, which Galloway neighborhood residents previously tried to protect with a historic designation. Melanie Bach, president of the Galloway Village Neighborhood, told SBJ this morning a landmark designation application was filed just last month for the site.

Mitch Jenkins would not provide more details on his new plans for the site to SBJ.

Back in November 2022, the Jenkinses’ plans for a mixed-use development on the same site were overwhelmingly rejected by voters in a citywide election. More than 70% voted against the plan in a rezoning measure that would have led the way for the development that was first proposed in summer 2018. The plans caused more than four years of friction between the neighborhood and the developer, according to past SBJ reporting.

Last month, a $7.75 million loan from Arlo Bank was made to Galloway Village LLC – incorporated in December 2025 by Jenkins – and Elevation Enterprises LLC for work at the site, according to public records published by SBJ.

Reached by phone, Bach said the Jenkinses’ action with regard to the Galloway property came as a surprise to neighborhood leaders, who had been working on efforts to halt what she called demolition by neglect on the site.

Bach said neighborhood representatives had attended a city-sponsored neighborhood teams meeting, an effort, according to city spokesperson Melissa Hart, of the Planning and Neighborhoods division of the city’s Planning Department.

In the meetings, Bach said, the city routinely fields concerns brought by neighbors about ongoing issues.

“One we had listed was demolition by neglect,” she said. “One of the city staff suggested we apply for landmark designation.”

SBJ was not able to reach city officials immediately to confirm that staff suggestion.

Bach said the neighborhood applied for landmark designation on April 21, but she noted that was not a new idea for the body.

According to past SBJ reporting, City Council in 2019 voted down a historic designation sought by neighborhood residents for the property at 3535 S. Lone Pine Ave. The Galloway Village Neighborhood Association applied for the historic site designation on the Springfield Historic Register without the consent of the property owner, which was Jenkins but under his company Elevation Enterprises. The site was formerly home to the Sequiota Store and Treadway’s General Store & Gas Station built in 1929.

Bach said the move was disheartening for the board, following what she said was unanimous approval by the city’s Landmarks Board.

“We got all the way to City Council and got smacked down and called unethical,” she said. “Most of the Landmarks Board disbanded after that.”

But Bach said the Landmarks Board has been active lately, and the composition of City Council changed following municipal elections in April 2025.

“We thought, let’s go ahead and apply for it again,” she said.

Bach said she found out about the demolition permit for the site on Lone Pine Avenue yesterday.

“I don’t know if it’s all a coincidence or there’s any correlation or if he got wind of anything,” she said. “We thought we’d go for it again, since the city staff says it would be beneficial.”

Bach said for the past five years, the windows have been wide open in one of the historic structures on the site, and buildings have been left without tenants for years since Jenkins has taken ownership.

“The neighborhood has been in a difficult position,” she said. “We don’t want to keep poking at him to make it necessary to demolish them, but we don’t want to stand by and do nothing. But he has let the windows stay open.”

Asked what she would like to see on the site, Bach said she wishes she could turn back the clock and see the buildings occupied and not subjected to neglect.

“If there was a picture of demolition by neglect, this would be it,” she said.

Barring that, Bach said she thinks the site would be perfect as an extension of Sequiota Park, perhaps with a community center or museum on-site.

“The Chadwick Flyer’s coming in; the (community improvement district’s) activated – good things are happening,” she said. “We’ve never agreed with the intensity that Mitch Jenkins wanted to do over there. We’ve never seen eye-to-eye with him for a lot of reasons. It’s difficult to see something that he creates integrating well into the community down here.”