By Debby Woodin

dwoodin@joplinglobe.com

Some downtown property owners are playing it close to the chest as the state considers consolidating offices, possibly along Main Street.

The move, which could bring as many as 300 jobs downtown, according to city estimates, is also raising some concerns.

The state Office of Administration has called for proposals seeking office space to rent within one mile of the city limits of Joplin for a building to house many of the offices the state now has scattered around the city. The request for proposals gives preference to a historic building, central business district, community improvement district or Main Street program district.

Larry Schepker, commissioner of the Office of Administration in Jefferson City, said the reason for the proposal is to save money. He said that Gov. Matt Blunt, when he came into office, directed the agency to move offices from leased property to property the state owned or could buy and move agencies from scattered locations to centralized buildings for the convenience of customers and employees.

Consolidation has been accomplished so far in Jefferson City, where the Truman State Office Building was established, and in St. Louis, Schepker said. The office is now trying to do the same in Kansas City, Springfield and Joplin.

The state wants 60,000 square feet of office space with 365 parking spaces.

One building that meets those specifications is the former Interstate Grocer Co. (Bagcraft) building at 1027 Main St. It has 122,000 square feet available in five stories plus a full basement that has room for parking 55 vehicles and surrounding open land to accommodate the additional parking required.

Paul Whitehill, one of the partners in Gryphon Building Co., the developer, said, “At this point I really can’t make a comment on it,” when asked if the company is submitting a proposal for the state building.

City incentives

After the state issued a request for proposals on Oct. 1, the city went public Nov. 3 with an offer of up to $1 million of the cost of buying properties in the 800 and 900 blocks of Main Street for a developer to knock down the old buildings and build a new state office building there. That’s less than a block from Whitehill’s building, but it’s an area that has been targeted by the city in the past as an eyesore.

The prospect of knocking down old buildings and raising a modern building isn’t sitting well with the director of Main Street Joplin.

Toby Teeter, the director, said the group did the work to get historic designations for many of the buildings in the area the city now proposes to knock down.

“My issue, personally, and not speaking for Main Street, is that I’m just bothered by the process in that structures of historic significance would be bulldozed down,” if the city’s proposal succeeds, Teeter said. “I’m working on my own time to create more inventory (of downtown buildings) and they want to tear them down. It seems counterproductive.”

Souls Harbor Mission, 915 Main St., criticized in the past as an impediment to development of the area, would be displaced if the city’s proposal goes through. The mission’s director, Joann Lewis, declined to talk about the proposal or its effects on the mission.

Another building owner in the block, David Keith Rand, of Webb City, said he’s been approached about selling as part of the city’s proposal but he would not say by whom or what was discussed.

He owns two buildings where the Main Street and Willard Apartments are located. Asked if would he be willing to sell, he replied: “I probably would be. It would just depend on what the offer was.”

John and Sue Kester have operated Discount Furniture, 901 Main St., for 15 years in space they rent from Rand. “It won’t affect us. We’d just relocate,” John Kester said.

Most of the other buildings in the target area are unoccupied and owned by people who do not live in the area.

Current leases?

Some of the property owners who lease to the various state offices are making proposals if they can.

Joplin Plaza at Seventh Street and Illinois Avenue is one of the shopping centers where some state offices are located. Plaza owner, Tom Muccio of Fayetteville, Ark., said he could do some remodeling to give the state more space but, because of the economy, he cannot get financing to build to all the state’s specifications.

“We’ve approached a number of banks with a number of proposals,” he said. “The state can only commit (to a lease) one year at a time. Even though it is unlikely they would move out, there’s no bank that would give you a loan on that basis,” Muccio said.

He still would like to work something out with the state, but he said that with the tight credit market stalling new construction projects, he believes he can rent the space eventually if the state does move.

City Manager Mark Rohr says the city has been contacted by several developers.

The city already owns property in the 900 block on Virginia Avenue. The city would pledge that property to the project along with its power of eminent domain and up to $1 million to buy other properties.

“The City Council determined that, in their minds, a new building would add significant momentum in terms of what we’ve done to the downtown and would be worth that investment,” Rohr said.

He said he doesn’t believe the city’s offer will impede any private developer. “It depends on your specific circumstances. I’m not sure it puts us in competition. It puts us in a position to further the goal for the construction of a new building,” Rohr said.

The state initially held a bidding conference here on Oct. 1 and set the deadline for receiving proposals for Nov. 19. That deadline has now been moved to Dec. 10.

Asked if the there has been any huddling between city and state authorities, Rohr said, “Our role is pretty straightforward. We have taken the stance we have taken to realize the construction of a new state office building. It’s not anything more complicated or deep-seeded than that.”







State offices

Offices that would be moved under Missouri’s proposal for a consolidated office building would be the Department of Corrections Board of Probation and Parole, the Highway Patrol Troop D Service Center near Carthage, the Veterans Commission, the driver license testing bureau, the Department of Social Services, Vocational Rehabilitation and others.