Springfield will revisit ideas for Kearney Street redevelopment, years after initial plan

Seven years ago, studies and community surveys showed a need for Kearney Street to be reimagined. Deteriorating and aging buildings and outdated curb cuts along the north Springfield corridor were preventing business owners and the city from capitalizing on the estimated $95 million in annual retail potential.

At the time, Springfieldians wanted to see more sit-down family restaurants, a larger focus on the street's Route 66 heritage and development of small, local boutique retail stores. While the corridor between Glenstone Avenue and Kansas Expressway has seen some progress since then, Director of Economic Vitality Amanda Ohlensehlen said much of the redevelopment has occurred on the "bookends" of the street and the redevelopment plan rolled out in 2018 has seen little use.

Seven projects completed, more left to do

The redevelopment plan approved in 2018 declared the area blighted and provided opportunity for investors to take advantage of tax abatement as an incentive. The goal of the plan was to remove blight, encourage redevelopment according to the then-current Vision 20/20 comprehensive plan and enhance safety and visual appearance.

Other than tax abatement, other available incentive programs included business development loans, business incentive loans and brownfields funding.

The plan established standards and design requirements, as well as some prohibited uses that were not eligible for tax abatement. Ohlensehlen said seven projects were completed under the 2018 plan, all but one of which were at the intersection of Kearney and Glenstone. They include:

• Glendalough Convention Center at the DoubleTree Hotel;
• A retail center that includes Echelon Coffee, an AT&T store and Crumbl Cookies at the former Buckingham's BBQ site;
• BigShots Golf, where Kmart used to be;
• A Chick-fil-A at the site of the former Springfield Inn;
• A Whataburger at the same site;
• Long Drive Center, a retail center adjacent to BigShots; and
• MMC Fencing & Railing at 1900 W. Kearney St.

Ohlensehlen said there could be several reasons the redevelopment plan was not used more broadly across the corridor — perhaps the guidelines were too vague or confusing or there was lack of public awareness, or tax abatement wasn't enough to make a investment worthwhile, or there was a lack of public investment in infrastructure.

Kearney Street falls under the Missouri Department of Transportation's purview, limiting what the city is able to do as far as infrastructure is concerned. Some improvements to the road are underway by MoDOT, and Mayor Ken McClure remained optimistic at Tuesday's Springfield City Council meeting that the anticipated improvement plans for Interstate 44 would prompt further work on Kearney.

Moving forward with a new plan, priorities

The 2018 redevelopment plan, which expired in 2023, required renewal every five years.

"We really feel that it's a good time to take a pause to potentially look at amending and re-adopting that plan," Ohlensehlen said at Tuesday's meeting.

The most immediate steps, she said, would be to update the blight report and create a new redevelopment plan that can both take into account the new Forward SGF comprehensive plan and implement updated public feedback. These could be covered with existing staff and resources in the Economic Vitality office. In the long term, Ohlensehlen suggested the corridor should be looked at as a part of the city's larger goal of beautifying corridors across the city while promoting public-private partnership investments as a way to expand the available portfolio of incentives behind redevelopment.

More: New year, new street: Where Springfield road projects stand and what will open in 2024

Councilwoman Monica Horton said she wants to see neighborhood planning be a part of the redevelopment considerations, particularly mentioning the Robberson neighborhood as one that could benefit from increased focus and reinvestment in the community after the recent closure of the Robberson Community School. Last week, the school board declared Robberson to be "surplus" property , clearing the way for it to be sold.

"We need some sort of neighborhood planning adjacent to this corridor that will allow for neighbors ... and businesses to engage in the planning of the entire ecosystem and not just the street," Horton said, noting that a park or community garden are top priorities for many residents of the neighborhood.

Marta Mieze covers local government at the News-Leader. Have feedback, tips or story ideas? Contact her at mmieze@news-leader.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Springfield will revisit ideas for Kearney Street redevelopment, years after initial plan