SPRINGFIELD, MO | Queen City developments
 

Springfield, Missouri was founded in 1833 and since then the city has grown tremendously. In recent years that growth has been very evident within the ever revitalizing downtown core. With a population at 159,000 the city may seem small, but certainly packs a punch. Due to a strong economy and the success of four major colleges all located within downtown's reach, the city has grown quite steadily. Home to the headquarters of Bass Pro Shops, O'Reily Auto parts, Hammonds Hotel, and Prime Inc. The city also has a very vibrant culture and history. Once in competition with Nashville as the country music capital, also the city competed with New York City and Hollywood for the amount of original television programing each city was producing, Ronald Reagan debuted a few of his movies here at the Gilloz Theatre, Cashew Chicken originated here, and the birthplace of route 66 is home to Springfield. In this thread I'll be documenting any developments or construction that happen within the city.

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A local developer, Bryan Properties, has spent 30 million into Bear Village. Bear Village are lease by bed dormitory style apartments focused on MSU students two blocks away to the east. The development has been quite successful, with most of the buildings completed and a completion date of 2017, bringing the total amount of beds up to 750 beds.

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Beacon Student Housing is a Denver, Colorado based developer who has built The Beacon Commons and Suits for 8.55 Million. With 201 beds filled, it has been a success.

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You can see the Bear Village development in the background, the two properties are along Kimbrough Avenue which create a really dense wall for about a quarter of a mile of 3 to 4 story buildings.

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An Austin, Texas developer, Aspen Heights bought the abandoned Sara Lee bread bakery and built Aspen, a lease by bed apartment building aimed at students. With 564 beds and finished just two weeks ago at a cost of 26 million.

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A local developer So El district LLC just finished its So El Districts Loft apartment building at a cost of 6 million. The buildings has a 600 foot commercial space and adds 40 rooms to the Springfield market.

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5999 LLC is almost finished building the Brewery District Lofts. The lofts are an addition to the Springfield Brewing Company a local craft distillery and restaurant. The building will cost 2.4 million. The first floor of the building will have 4000 square feet split between office and retail, while the other two story's will be residential.

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Springfield is a badass city. I do not care for St. Louis or Kansas City, but I don't mind going to Springfield. I really like the vibe and a bunch of cool people.

I moved here a year ago and I love it, there's always something going on and it still has a small town feel in the big city lol you really can't run out of cool interesting people to meet.

Hotel Vandivort is Springfield's first Boutique hotel. Built by John, Karen, and Billy McQueary, the two brothers enlisted local workers and artisans to turn a vacant Masconic Temple in downtown Springfield into their vision of a high end hotel. The hotel recently celebrated over a year downtown. The hotel is a hotspot for celebrities when they come to town to perform.

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City Utilities recently finished construction of the new bus transfer station. The new station is located slightly outside of the downtown core, unlike the previous station which had outgrown it's use and location in the downtown's center. The station cost 4 million.

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A Kansas city developer Jim Nichols recently finished a 15 million dollar renovation of Springfield's iconic Heer's Tower. The tower is the tallest building in the old city center. It sat vacant for nearly two decades. The building was originally a department store, but is now host to a tech start up at the ground floor and luxury living in the remaining floors of the tower.

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Springfield based Vecino Group developed the old Woodruff Building in downtown Springfield into new apartments for young professionals and students. Considered Springfield's first skyscraper, the Vecino Group spent 15 million renovating the building into the current Sky 11 which recently opened in 2015.

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Missouri State University recently finished it's new O'Reilly Clinic Health Sciences Center. A new three story building aimed at nursing programs and physician assistant studies. The building cost 19.5 million dollars.

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I jokingly call this building the spaceship LOL

A Springfield start up has recently been granted permission by Missouri State University to use 21 old grain silos for an urban vertical farming project. The start up plans to grow lettuce, mushrooms, and other vegetables using a water system.

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Excellent!! I attended Missouri State University from 1990 to 1994. Back then, downtown Springfield was a dump. Very little interest was taken in improving the quality of the CBD. Most of the economic development took place a few miles south along Battlefield Avenue. It changed dramatically when I last visited back in 2008. Many of the old buildings were being transformed into lofts, the ball stadium was built, and many businesses relocated. It was great to see. I would like to return soon, and see what's happened since then. I also hope to see more pictures posted. Thanks!! :tup:

No problem! Next weekend I'll try and tackle some of the other projects on the south and west side. Downtown is very much alive today, I live in one of the lofts currently and there's always some thing going on. This whole Pokemon Go thing has been huge for business downtown as well. You'd be blown away from all the development around the college.

Living above/next to a brewery sounds awesome yet dangerous at the same time.

It's not like that, it's just a small operation and the brewery is at the opposite corner of the city block from the lofts. Although, it is awesome, their beer is really great. They have weird drinks too, like chilie and chocolate beer. :cheers:

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