Touché Design moving to Ozark

Touché Design Group owner Jeanne Hill said her interior design firm, which has been a fixture on South National Avenue across from Mercy Hospital Springfield for 30 years, is moving this week into a 1,500-square-foot space at 6003 N. 21st St. in Ozark.

The new location is owned by Denny and Jane Hush of Ozark Mountain Granite & Tile Co., and is directly across U.S. 65 from James River Assembly.

Hill said the lease is month-to-month, but she declined to provide lease terms. The move was necessitated by her former landlord C. Arch Bay Co.’s plans to develop a five-story hotel across from the hospital.

In November, Springfield City Council unanimously approved a pair of bills to rezone 1.37 acres across from Mercy and change the floor-area ratio restrictions to allow for the hotel at the southwest corner of East Cherokee Street and South National Avenue.

Hill said she and longtime landlord Terry Reynolds of C. Arch Bay parted on good terms.

“We cried and we hugged. We will be friends for life,” Hill said, adding that Reynolds was very sensitive to the fact that Hill’s business had invested a lot of time and energy into the roughly 5,000-square-foot property. Hill said she was compensated for agreeing to move while she still had 18 months on her lease, but she declined to quantify the compensation.

Hill said the new location is likely temporary, as she purchased more than three acres at the corner of Evans Road and U.S. 65 roughly two years ago. At that time, there had been some discussion with Reynolds about vacating the Springfield property for the development of the hotel, Hill said, but those plans were delayed. In October, Hill said Reynolds approached her again and asked her to find a new location for Touché, but she didn’t have time to build on the Evans Road property.

Touché’s 3,500-pound frog statute, a landmark in the area, would be moved to the Evans Road field south of Springfield until she decides how to develop the land for a permanent home, Hill said. She said Touché would be completely moved out of C. Arch Bay’s property by the end of March.

“It’s kind of sad, but it is a good thing in that I know a hotel is needed for the hospital there, and I understand progress,” Hill said.

She said many of her items in the shop are being donated to groups and individuals or being moved to storage. She said James River Assembly is receiving the hardwood flooring, and a second frog statute is being donated to a man in Arkansas, who admired the piece from a window at Mercy during an extended stay.

If Hill does develop a permanent home for Touché at Evans Road, she will be a neighbor of the $105 million Mercy Orthopedic Hospital, which is currently under construction.[[In-content Ad]]