Private, public investments keep downtown afloat

The Springfield-Greene County Library plans to open its new location on the square in March. The 3,100-square-foot facility promises to be enticing for all ages and will join recently opened coffeehouse The Coffee Ethic. The combination of the library’s programming, resources and sidewalk café will anchor the south end of the square.

The Heer’s project will start construction in June and will transform the west end of the square. The primary use of the building will be condos by Kevin McGowan. The main tenant for the first floor will be a Mike Shannon’s restaurant.

Just in time for blockbusters and the return of college students in the summer, College Station is set to open in late summer/early fall. Marquee tenant Hollywood Theaters estimates 500,000 customers will purchase tickets at the only multiscreen complex north of Battlefield Road. It will be supported by two car parks – College Station Car Park, which opened this month, and the Heer’s Car Park, which is scheduled to open in March. The Missouri State University School of Art and Design, strategically placed between College Station and the Jordan Valley Innovation Center, will open the 20,000-squaure-foot Phase 1 in the fall.

For the first time in more than 35 years, Park Central Square will receive a much-needed facelift. Butler, Rosenbury & Partners is finalizing its master plan, to be submitted to Springfield City Council in January. The physical improvements of new sidewalks, enhanced lighting, interactive water features and community gardens will be enhanced by the investments in the private buildings on the edges . Another important component to the plan will be to increase the number of events on the square to bring patrons to the area. Urban Districts Alliance and other civic organizations hosted 16 events this past year, up from only four in 2006, and are pursuing significantly more for 2008.

The initial concepts for the Expo area included a multipurpose arena. Now, the center-city vision has expanded to three facilities – the $67 million JQH Arena on the MSU campus (scheduled to open in fall 2008), an Embassy Suites hotel to enhance the marketability of the Expo center and connect it to the Jordan Valley Car Park, and a multistory office tower to retain BKD, one of the top 10 public accounting firms in the nation, in its downtown location. Construction on both the hotel and office tower should begin by the end of 2008. These three developments represent approximately $100 million of bricks and mortar compared to original projections of $25 million to $30 million for the multipurpose arena.

While the large projects grab the spotlights, small businesses continue to be at the heart of center city development.

The choices for women’s clothing increased recently with the opening of Pure Downtown Boutique, across from the College Station Car Park on McDaniel; Indie, on East Walnut in the Robert E. Smith Building; and Shae Belle, under new ownership adjacent to its previous location on Campbell Avenue.

Global Fayre, an eclectic gift store, recently opened on Campbell. International artist Susan Sommer-Luarca, moved her gallery from the Mansfield Opera House to the first floor of the Kresge Building at the corner of McDaniel Street and South Avenue.

The number of restaurants and nightlife locations will expand in 2008. Marco’s Pizzeria and Bugsy Malone’s are partnering to open on the southeast corner of South and Walnut. Mark Williams plans to renovate the former Marco’s location on Park Central West for a neighborhood pub. Ophelia’s owner Tom Muetzel will open Finnegan’s Wake Irish pub and the adjacent South Avenue Pizza on South Avenue. Fedora’s, a social and dessert club across Robberson Alley from Trolley’s, is set to open in the spring. It is owned by Paul Sundy (owner of Icon Nightclub and Big Whiskey’s), Jay Hickman (owner of Ernie Biggs and Planet Smoothie), and Matt Miller (local real estate agent).

The city of Springfield is scheduled to initiate streetscape projects to follow the private development. New sidewalks, historical lighting, banners, landscaping and other treatments are planned for the areas surrounding College Station, Heer’s, and Park Central Square.

The east-west linkages on St. Louis and Walnut streets also will be enhanced through federal transportation grants for streetscapes from Jefferson to Kimbrough. The city’s N-cent capital improvements fund will improve the north-south corridors on Campbell and Jefferson avenues.

The third phase of the Commercial Street streetscape development will take place in the first quarter. It will extend the existing improvements (from Jefferson to Boonville) to Campbell Avenue. The Boonville corridor streetscapes will be extended south from Commercial to Court in the second quarter of 2008 in an effort to continue reinforcing connections between the Center City districts.

Just think of the entrepreneurs this activity may inspire in 2009.

Rusty Worley, executive director of Urban Districts Alliance, can be reached at rusty@itsalldowntown.com.