Torgerson Design to build $3M office in Ozark

Last edited 12:21 p.m., Feb. 28, 2020

Architecture firm Torgerson Design Partners LLC is expanding its footprint in Ozark with a new $3 million office.

John Torgerson, principal architect and founder, said the firm plans to build a three-story, 18,000-square-foot office at the corner of West Jackson Street and North Third Street. The property is located in a 15-acre area owned by the city of Ozark that officials once tabbed for development but has sat dormant for more than a decade.

“It was a failed development that would have happened in 2009,” Torgerson said of the vacant land that had been unable to gain any traction since the recession. “We hope our office will be the spark that just sets the rest of that development up.”

The firm, currently at 116 N. Second Ave., has been working with the city’s Land Clearance Redevelopment Authority for months to acquire roughly three quarters of an acre at the site. A third and final reading on the project is scheduled March 2 at the Ozark Board of Aldermen meeting, said Adam Kreher, principal architect and partner at Torgerson Design Partners. He declined to disclose terms of the deal.

The project is currently under design by in-house staff, Kreher said, adding the firm is in preliminary discussions for contractor and engineering services. The partners hope to start construction in July, with an estimated completion by fall 2021.

After six years at its current office, Torgerson said the firm is out of room.

“I don’t have any room for expansion. We’re at 100% capacity,” he said, adding about five of the firm’s employees are working in a rented building kitty-corner from its office on the square. “In fact, we’re probably at more capacity than we want to be in this building.”

The new office will be the third home for the 10-year-old company. Torgerson said remaining in Ozark was a priority, as well as constructing a new office that allows for growth. The 25-employee firm, which offers architecture, real estate and development services, doesn’t plan to occupy the entire building.

“Our plan is to rent the entire first floor right now,” Torgerson said, adding they also likely would rent out the current office. “We would operate all three divisions out of the next two floors.”