Town |amp| Country center to get new look

Tenants of north Springfield's Town & Country shopping center will witness a facelift and welcome a few new neighbors come next spring.

The changes are part of a $12.5 million total investment by its new owner, Resource De-velopment Inc.

RDI's founder and president Bill Jester purchased the retail center on North Kansas Ex-pressway in July 2001 for $6.5 million and has announced his $1.5 million renovation plans. Another $4.5 million will be spent on the construction of three new retail buildings around the strip center.

"It will bring it into the 21st century," Jester said of his plans.

In all, Jester said 33,600 square feet of leasable space will be added among the three new structures.

The largest is a new 21,000-square-foot strip center to the north of Town & Country that could house as many as 12 tenants, according to the shopping center's leasing agent, Ken Schwab of Wil-hoit Properties Inc.

The smaller retail center will be constructed on the land between Town & Country and Wal-Mart. Jester also said he will connect the two parking lots.

New tenants

Jester and Schwab are in negotiations with International House of Pancakes and Radio Shack for a structure just north of the center's main entrance. If signed, Schwab said IHOP will occupy a 4,200-square-foot restaurant in it. IHOP opened its first Springfield location on South Glenstone about a year ago.

Connected to it will be 3,000 square feet that may be leased by Radio Shack, which has occupied space in the existing center since 1983, Schwab said.

Also among the new construction plans is the demolition of the Git-N-Go gas station on the southeast corner of the lot. Demolition already has begun and a tenant for the 5,400-square-foot structure that will replace it is near signing, Schwab said. He said it is a telecommunications product provider, but did not name the company.

Further additions, Jester said, include a nearly 20,000-square-foot secure warehouse facility behind the shopping center. He said it will be used by some of his tenants as well as Wal-Mart.

The parking lot also will undergo renovations. Jester said new pavement, lighting, landscape and islands are in store for the lot, as well as a new parking configuration that will increase the number of spaces. Customers will be able to park at the tenants' doorsteps, he said, which is a major benefit for the tenants.

"Retailers just love people being able to park at their door," Schwab added.

Tenant loyalty, traffic

Jester said the existing tenants were a major factor in his purchase of the property. What appealed to him, he said, was the low turnover rate of tenants and the fact that many of the them are nationally known.

"There are a lot of good, long-term tenants here," Jester said. "We want to take good care of them."

To do so, Jester hired Harold Gray of Gray General Contractors Inc. in Ozark as the renovation contractor. Jester said he has experience in keeping businesses open and prosperous during the renovation. Great Wall Construction is general contractor of the new construction and Firstar is providing the financing.

Schwab said Radio Shack is the center's longest-tenured lessee. The two other oldest tenants, Town & Country 6 Theaters and Fashion Bug, have maintained occupancy from 1988 and 1994, respectively. "That shows the power of the area," he said. "I think that sometimes the perception may be that all the retail in Springfield is on the south end of town. And although it's strong, this has been an equally strong area."

Another factor was the area's high traffic count, Jester said. The nearby intersection of Kansas Expressway and Kear-ney Avenue accumulates 33,005 northbound and southbound drivers per day, according to the Missouri Department of Trans-portation's most recent traffic counts.

"That ranks in the highest traffic count numbers on any corners around town," Schwab said.

Looking north

While this is Jester's first development in north Springfield, he said it was a project four years in the making.

"It took me four years to get this property," Jester said of his negotiations with previous owner Bob Walpert, a St. Louis shopping center developer who also owns the Old Town Centre here. Jester said Walpert owned Town & Country for more than 10 years.

"Our plan from the beginning was to do a major renovation of the facility to maximize its visibility and productivity for our tenants and for the north side area," Jester said.

According to project architect Bill Derington, the renovations are much needed. He said the last remodel was probably 15 to 20 years ago and this will "bring it up to date."

Schwab agreed. "It's probably had a tired look ... up to this point," he said.

To help give life to the center, Jester said six new towers for signage will be constructed along the facade.

The towers will be similar in design to those of another Jester development, Battlefield Towers. In fact, Derington said the appearance will have an overall similar look of Battlefield Towers.

RDI now has about 500,000 square feet of leasable space and a total of 25 properties, Jester said.