Revitalizing Downtown: A Slow Process

• Downtown Springfield has been dealing with problems in recent years including business closings, plans changing and projects failing.
• Bigger projects have suffered from the recession.
• Many projects have been in place to revitalize downtown like the 1.8 million renovation of Park Central Square.
• Many small prosperous projects have been completed as the revitalization of downtown continues.

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 Downtown Growth Stunted by Local Economic Downfall

From ONJ

There is a little of everything in downtown Springfield. From thriving, colorful businesses to run-down buildings that have been empty for years. The buildings are patch-worked together to create a mismatched unity nowhere else in the city.

Tom Billionis, co-owner of The Coffee Ethic located on the square, has seen downtown change in the past four years that the shop has been open. Downtown has changed a lot since The Coffee Ethic’s beginning, but still has a long way to go, he said.

“I don’t think it’s done, but there was a lot of work that was done or being done when we came in,” he said. “To me that’s more fun than going into a place that’s already established and everything’s set and done; you know what it looks like and what it’s going to be like. Here, downtown, both good and bad we’ve had surprises along the way. We’ve dealt with years of construction outside our doors, which just finished with the square this month. We’ve dealt with businesses opening, businesses closing, plans being changed, projects failing, projects succeeding, it’s made for a really interesting time down here.”

He said he and his partner, Jim Hamilton, wanted the shop to be great, rich, colorful and interesting, four things that they got from the book ‘The Great Good Place.’ The book is about the sociological concept of a third place that people go, besides their home or work, that they look for social interaction and community connectedness, he said

.”The type of place we wanted to create and the environment we wanted to create seem to fit best in the downtown area and the resurgence of downtown that was happening,” Billionis said. “Being able to have a spot on the square, which we thought was the central point of the city, which was also being revitalized and coming back to life, we wanted to be right in the middle of it all.”

From ONJ

Rusty Worley, executive director of the Urban District Alliance, helps coordinate the revitalization of downtown, Walnut Street and Commercial Street. Many different projects have been going on to revitalize downtown, such as the $1.8 million renovation to Park Central Square and the street-scape renovations to improve pedestrian experiences downtown and link districts together better, he said.

“I am now in my seventh year here in this position and so we have seen a lot of progress over those seven years,” Worley said. “Things like the movie theaters; we have 16 movie screens here downtown. We have things like the Bistro Market, which was a huge plus. We dramatically increased the number of loft apartments downtown. All that said, there is no doubt that recession has slowed the pace in the last couple years. The dramatic rate that we were seeing both on the loft apartment side and the commercial side has slowed as businesses are much more conservative in their expansions.”

Worley said some of the bigger projects suffered from the recession.

“A project like College Station, I think that College Station would be virtually full by now if the recession wasn’t here,” Worley said. “Unfortunately that opened up right at the wrong time, in the fall of 2008, right when the recession hit. We are starting to see interest in the project now and some tenants will be moving into that. We still have some major projects left to do. A lot of the low hanging improvements has been done because of the state historic tax credits and Missouri State’s expansion; those have been critical and yielded a lot of growth, but we have big projects like College Station left to do.”

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Provided is an audio interview with Ralph Rognstad regarding the revitalization in downtown Springfield.

Downtown Springfield Revitalization – Ralph Rognstad by FueledbyWriting

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Worley said one of the tenants moving into College Station are Hamel’s Foundation, a private foundation to help kids in need.”Steak-Out looked at having a restaurant in conjunction with the comedy club [in College Station],” Worley said. “The comedy club has had some issues with their owners- legal problems, so that’s slowed that up. We hope that one way or the other we will have the comedy club and a restaurant there. We continue to want to have an anchor restaurant right across from the movie theater that would be adjacent to the courtyard, and that courtyard would be a really nice amenity for outdoor seating. There is some interest that is there right now.”

From ONJ

Another big project that has yet to be done is the Heers building, a giant building on the square that has been empty for some time. Billionis said many people might not realize that downtown has grown because they notice the big projects and not the numerous small projects that have been prosperous.

“Instead of having one huge project, like the Heers, which is well-documented in its trouble, we’ve had a bunch of small businesses that have come in and dug their heels in and made it work in spite of some of the big projects not happening that we would like to see but haven’t,” he said. “And MSU is doing their thing with the IDEA Commonsand that’s continuing to progress. So you see these things around you that are pretty significant, that time was a factor, and with money the way it is right now and financing it takes more time to get these things up. In a better point in time economically, I think we would have seen a lot more. But what we have seen has been very very encouraging because in spite of the situation things are progressing.”

From ONJ

The Jordan Valley Innovation Center, which provides research space for MSU and outside agencies.

Doug Sampson, architect in the MSU Department of Planning and Development, said Missouri State has plans to build downtown.

“The  IDEA Commons, to bring all these different phases, different aspects of life together I think is a very strong concept,” Sampson said. ”If you have outside companies hiring our students, like in the Jordan Valley Innovation Center, hiring our students and they’re across the street from an art gallery, you start having this mix of different things which I think is beneficial to everyone, both the artists and the scientists.”

Two buildings in Brick City, which is leased by MSU, are going to be renovated by 2013. The university also owns Jordan Valley Innovation Centerand a few other buildings, as well as some vacant land that does not have a purpose yet, Sampson said.Brick City, leased by MSU for the Department of Art and Design.Billionis said he would like to see the Heers building and two other empty buildings in the area be used to provide more life on the square.
MSU and Downtown by evappleby
“Those are three things from our vantage point because we look out our front window and see that,” he said. “But at the same time we’ve had Bistro Market come in, the amount of lofts being created, more people living downtown, all those things have been a steady progression. If you look at all those they tend to outweigh the negative of the other projects that haven’t happened.”
Worley said he did not think any of the vacant buildings affected other businesses downtown dramatically.

“We work hard to look at all options for all of our vacant buildings and try to find ways to make them happen,” he said. “Like I said, the low hanging improvements have been done. The smaller buildings, the tax credit and other things, are much easier to get into. The big buildings that need a lot of square footage are much more challenging. We certainly want to see the west end of the square develop, with all the investment we have made both in street-scapes and things like the Library. The square is yet to be complete until we get those store fronts activated along the west side, get those buildings with activity in them.”

From December 2, 2011

Ralph Rognstad, Springfield Director of Planning and Development, said that the main emphasis of the city of Springfield is to get businesses into downtown that will create jobs for low- and modern-income residents.

“Generally, we will loan out about $25,000, but we will loan more depending on how many jobs they will create,” he said “We take a lot more risk than a bank will. Sometimes, they will go to the bank, and the bank is not willing to loan them the amount of money they need. We will come behind them and second[them], and will, in a way, add more money.”

Rognstad said that they have been working to address some the issues with Commercial Street for some time.

“One of the main concerns has been social services,” he said. “Some of that has been moved off of Commercial Street. There’s sort of a coexistence there between the social services and the homeless providers. Commercial Street really looked like it was going to take off. We have continued to see activity there.”

Billionis said he feels like downtown will continue to grow as time goes on and the economy gets better.

“There’s several things right now, buildings are being redone, lofts being built, spaces being prepared for businesses that are coming in, we’ve never been discouraged at all by anything,” Billionis said. “There are things we would have loved to see happen by now that haven’t, but we know they will in time. It just has to be the right time and the money has to be in place and it has to be the right situation.”

From December 2, 2011

Billionis said he would also like to see the Springfield-Greene County Museum building across the square be open, but the tax base isn’t there to finance the move right now.

“I would love to see that project go because it brings another element downtown beside a restaurant or retail or bar and it gives other citizens, other types of people more reason to come down and be a part of what’s going on down here.”

Billionis said the resurgence of downtown will continue. Despite any economic problems that are occurring now, people want to have a place to come together and connect with their community.

“The buildings are interesting down here, the way things fit together isn’t always perfect, but in some point in our history they put them there, so being able to reuse and repurpose the buildings and other structures down here is pretty fun,” he said.

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Provided below is an audio interview with Doug Sampson regarding Missouri State’s role in downtown Springfield MSU and Downtown by evappleby
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Contributions

Interviews: Amanda Hess, Katie DeJarnette, Brandon Corrigan, Evelyn Appleby

Audio: Katie DeJarnette, Evelyn Appleby

Pictures: Katie DeJarnette, Evelyn Appleby, Amanda Hess

Article: Amanda Hess

Summary: Brandon Corrigan