Vecino Group’s $13.5M Sankofa development nears completion

A multimillion, multistory affordable housing development on historic Commercial Street – the first from-the-ground-up development to be built in the neighborhood in roughly 50 years – is in the final weeks of construction.  

Patrick McWhirt, chief creative officer for Springfield-based project developer The Vecino Group LLC, said the $13.5 million, 43,000-square-foot facility is preleasing for the 42 affordable apartments that comprise much of its four stories. The units range from studio to two-bedroom designs in the building, which includes five ground-level commercial spaces.  

It’s a development that Connie Rhoades Hinds, director of the Commercial Street Merchants Association, welcomes. She said Vecino Group has been excellent at communicating with the neighborhood throughout the project, which kicked off construction in early 2025. 

“When they first started the plans for it, they held open houses and spoke to various groups about what their plans were,” Hinds said. “So right from the get-go, I feel like the process that they undertook was very community minded, and that made a pretty positive impact on merchants and residents in the district.” 

Headquartered next door to the project at 305 W. Commercial St., Vecino Group officials have had a direct view of the ongoing work.  

“There are multiple reasons to be proud of it. One, we love being on C-Street. There is no culture like this in Springfield,” McWhirt said, noting Sankofa also helps address the city’s continuing need for affordable housing. 

Irene Schaefer, vice president of the Commercial Street Community Improvement District, said Sankofa’s presence in the neighborhood is “one of the most positive things that’s happened in a long time.” The C-Street CID organizes general maintenance and image enhancement for the Commercial Street community. 

“It’s new construction, so it brings that breath of newness,” Schaefer said. 

Development details 
The apartments range 380-815 square feet, and rent is priced for households earning roughly 60% of the area median income, he said. Affordable housing programs typically serve households earning between 30% and 80% of AMI, according to various housing advocacy groups. Monthly rent at Sankofa ranges $795-$1,010. Those figures line up to a tee with the 60% home income limits in the Springfield metro area for one- and two-person households respectively, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development data for fiscal 2025.   

Each kitchen includes Energy Star appliances such as a microwave, oven/range, refrigerator with built-in ice maker and dishwasher, while the apartments also feature a washer and dryer and private bedrooms. 

Units are still available, but officials say interest is high. Jordan Gibson, Vecino Group’s senior vice president of organizational development, said there’s a short waitlist for available apartments as they come online, but she expects that will grow in the coming weeks. 

“I would say early fall we would be pretty close to being leased up just by the interest that we have and the waitlist currently,” she said, adding initial move-ins should begin within a few weeks. 

The facility also will include communal spaces such as a fitness center and small outdoor courtyard.  

“There is a sense of community here because it’s a C-Street neighborhood, but it’s good to have these types of things to where you don’t have to leave your home to get exercise, to spend time with other people and your neighbors,” McWhirt said.  

District addition 
Both Hinds and Schaefer point to Sankofa’s space on the west end of the district as a needed addition for the neighborhood. Sankofa is roughly a half-mile walk to Eurasia Coffee Co., which Hinds said is one of the easternmost areas in the C-Street business district.  

“Having the Sankofa project where they put it, I felt like was a good idea for the west end as far as maintaining a very walkable district and encouraging people to go from one end of the district to the other,” Hinds said. 

Walkability and bicycle use are regularly promoted along C-Street, Schaefer said. 

“Those are the things that the street brings so much and that we’re trying to really grow,” she said. 

Hinds said Sankofa’s first-floor commercial component should also encourage more visitors to west end businesses, which include Lindberg’s Tavern, Moon City Pub LLC and Upside Down Mercantile.  

“Developing the east and west end has been very important to me and to merchants in general because the district has a lot concentrated in the middle,” she said. “But there’s a lot of business and potential on the east and west ends.” 

As most of the residential offerings on C-Street consist of loft apartments and short-term lodging above storefronts, Sankofa’s 42 units will be a welcome boost to the neighborhood, Schaefer said.  

“All those new residents coming to the street will be a wonderful thing,” she said. 

“Sankofa” stems from the Adinkra writing system from Ghana and means “learning from the past ensures a strong future,” according to Vecino Group. 

The project is the realization of a multiyear dream for company CEO Matt Miller, Gibson said.  

“To have something that close to our home base is important,” she said.   

McWhirt said the firm, which also serves as general contractor and architect for the project, via Vecino Construction LLC and Vecino Design LLC, respectively, has largely stayed on schedule for the development since breaking ground in February 2025.  

“We were supposed to finish construction this spring, and so we’re almost right on schedule as far as residential,” McWhirt said.   

Gibson said the 2011-founded Vecino Group has roughly 100 employees, with around 35 of them based in Springfield. The company operates in 14 states. Beyond its Queen City headquarters, it has three additional offices in Atlanta; Troy, New York; and Salt Lake City.  

Mission-oriented 
Noting the company is devoted to development for the greater good, Gibson said its housing projects are meant to help not just the individual but the city itself.“It kind of really reinforces that development for the greater good for everyone that’s involved,” Gibson said. “It’s good for the city, it’s good for the community, it’s good for the residents living here. The goal has always been just to leave that positive impact in the communities that we serve.” 

Funding for the project included financing from The Bank of Missouri, Cedar Rapids Bank of Trust and American Rescue Plan Act funds from Greene County, Vecino Group officials say. If not for the latter funding source – $4.5 million – the project would have been a challenge to launch, Gibson said. 

“There surely would have been other avenues we would have explored to try to make it happen,” she said. “But having something like that makes it easy to kickstart it and get going.” 

Commercial plans 
McWhirt said adding commercial space to the building “makes perfect sense.”  

All five of the commercial retail spots on the ground level are under lease or soon will be, officials say. Two of the future tenants have announced their plans, while McWhirt declined to name the other planned occupants. The Multicultural Business Association, a nonprofit that promotes economic development and business opportunities through advocacy, networking and capacity building, is among those leasing space. Another tenant will be a new location of the SBC Community Bike Shop, a nonprofit program of the Drew Lewis Foundation Inc. with support from Springfield Brewing Company Athletics.  

The MBA will use its roughly 970 square feet for office space to help multicultural retail or service-based companies get off the ground. Joe Robles, board president for the organization, said he also is sharing executive director duties with fellow board member Wes Pratt. Former executive director Darline Mabins exited the organization last year, Robles said.  

Robles estimated startup costs will be roughly $6,000, adding the organization is still finalizing its lease with Vecino Group. He hopes the nonprofit can be in the space by early July. 

“We can use that to recruit, but also with that physical office it can be sustainable growth for the organization,” he said, noting the space also will host meetings, including with tenants at Sankofa who might have entrepreneurial interests. “Part of our agreement with the Vecino Group is that we offer training classes for the residents of the facility.” 

Amy Blansit, Drew Lewis Foundation founder and CEO, said her organization’s new storefront won’t replace the existing 10-year-old bike shop at The Fairbanks. The shop in the basement of the 1126 N. Broadway Ave. community hub in the Grant Beach neighborhood offers services such as bicycle repair, rentals and sales, and it takes donations of used bikes and parts from the community. 

“We were looking for just a small storefront,” Blansit said, adding the nonprofit’s lease for its 800 square feet will be around $1,000 per month. “Depending on what we’re able to fit into the shop, we’ll probably have somewhere between 15 to 20 bikes there on location.” 

At The Fairbanks, the bike inventory is closer to 60, Blansit said, noting both locations will take donations. But the C-Street store will be higher profile than The Fairbanks, which was one of the appeals to opening there, she said. 

“We’ll have the ability to air up tires, change out a tube. We’ll have some merchandise and bike parts for sale,” she said of the new store. “We still want people who do want work on their bikes and that kind of stuff to realize that The Fairbanks will remain open, and that will be the shop that you would still go to if you’re needing repairs.” 

Blansit said she’s hopeful to gain keys to the new space within a couple of weeks, followed by an early July opening. The initial lease is for one year, but the organization can extend it up to five years. 

“Right now, we want to make sure that just being a small shop that’s grown over the last 10 years through volunteerism, that we are making a smart business decision, opening up that location,” she said, adding two employees initially will rotate between the two shops, aided by a handful of volunteers. “This will help us spread the word of who we are and what we do by just foot traffic.”