By Melissa Dunson

mdunson@joplinglobe.com

When David Glenn, a longtime commercial real-estate developer in Joplin, gets a call from an out-of-town buyer, he always hears the same two streets named: Range Line Road and 32nd Street.

But once he gets the prospect in a car, Glenn said, he takes a detour, insisting that the potential buyer see at least part of Seventh Street. He acknowledges that the area has some problems, but says that with some vision and hard work, it could be the next hot spot.

A commercial boom wouldn’t be a new thing for the Seventh Street corridor. Ron Coffey, currently with Charles Burt Realtors, has been a commercial real-estate agent in Joplin for 34 years. He said he has seen the street’s popularity rise and fall over the years.

Years ago, Coffey said, West Seventh Street was Joplin’s real-estate hot spot, with a plethora of clubs and restaurants. But as time passed and Seventh Street became more crowded and expensive, businesses began to look elsewhere, particularly Range Line Road and 32nd Street.

But Coffey and Glenn think the tide may be turning for Seventh Street.

In the past three years, the city has issued 38 commercial building permits for work on Seventh Street — for a total of more than $6 million in new construction and renovation of existing structures.

‘It’s going to get better’

Sandra Robertson, owner of the new business Three Turtles: An Eclectic Marketplace, chose to start her venture on Seventh Street, just east of Maiden Lane, because she saw the location’s potential.

“It really was taking a chance,” Robertson said. “This building looked pretty rough, but it was a Route 66 building with good bones.”

The building that houses Three Turtles was constructed in the 1940s. During Seventh Street’s glory years, it served as a gas station, a barbershop, a liquor store, a used furniture shop and a used appliance store. Regardless of how the building looked when she bought it, Robertson said all she had to do was stand in the doorway and count the number of cars that passed by each hour to remind herself why it was worth a shot.

Glenn said the heavy traffic flow is one of Seventh Street’s greatest assets, especially because it is the direct route from Northeast Oklahoma and Southeast Kansas into Joplin and through town to Northpark Mall.

“It’s going to get better,” Glenn said of Seventh Street’s future. “That’s because the traffic count isn’t going to go down.”

Lucila Huaracha, manager of the new Acambaro restaurant near Seventh Street and Maiden Lane, said the owners of the Mexican restaurant chain with locations in Webb City, Monett, Springfield and Northwest Arkansas saw the vacated Mazzio’s building as a perfect option for expanding their business. The big factors were the traffic and the price.