Construction to transform more than seven acres of blighted property on and around Commercial Street may begin as early as this summer.
City Council in April approved the plan for developer Titus Williams’ Commercial-Pacific Street Redevelopment Corp., which includes the Missouri Hotel and the 400 and 500 blocks of East Commercial Street, the 1700 block of North Washington Street, the 1600 and 1700 blocks of North Benton Avenue, the 1600 and 1700 blocks of North Jefferson Avenue and the 400 blocks of East Blaine and East Pacific streets. Nearly the entire redevelopment area consists of vacant and limited-use buildings (storage) and unimproved land.
The Missouri Hotel has sat vacant since 2015, when The Kitchen Inc., a homeless services provider, ceased using it as an emergency shelter and transitional housing. Williams purchased the hotel in 2017 with the hope of returning it to its former glory.
The Missouri Hotel didn’t become known as the Missouri Hotel until 1947.
“My great-grandfather and namesake, Richard A. Ollis, developed and built the Missouri Hotel as the Greene Tavern Hotel, which opened in 1930. It housed the headquarters of the Greene County Building and Loan Association, a home loan business he ran along with R.A. Ollis & Company (insurance) next door at 408 E. Commercial. Our family company, Ollis & Company, which he and his brothers formed in 1885, remained at 408 E. Commercial until 1979,” said Richard Ollis, who served on City Council for six years and owns Ollis/Akers/Arney Insurance & Business Advisors. “The Ollis family is ecstatic about the Missouri Hotel renovation project. We look forward to the reimagined future of this historic structure and the continued redevelopment of Commercial Street.”
In 1936, the hotel became the Milner Hotel. The Milner family added a bowling alley in the basement, an automotive garage and a gas station on the south side of the building.
Eleven years later, it became the Missouri Hotel, which operated a grill on the ground floor. In its latter days, the Missouri Hotel became more blue-collar, nothing-fancy lodging. In 1985, The Kitchen, Inc., leased the building for use as an emergency shelter, transitional housing, soup kitchen and food pantry. In 2015, The Kitchen announced plans to move Missouri Hotel residents into permanent housing at the new Beacon Village and in other housing units in Springfield.
According to the redevelopment plan, construction is slated to begin this fall. The new boutique Missouri Hotel will offer a restaurant and bar, spa and other amenities.
The rest of the parcels in the Commercial-Pacific Street Redevelopment are divided into three phases for redevelopment:
Pacific South
- 72-unit townhouse development at Benton Avenue and Pacific Street with garages, a recreation room, storage units for tenants, a dog park/picnic area
- Construction to begin immediately, with completion estimated by fall 2025.
Pacific North
- North of Pacific Street between Jefferson and Benton avenues
- 200-until multi-family apartment complex with ground-floor office and retail plus amenities such as a pool and fitness center
- Construction to begin in summer 2025.
540 E. Commercial St.
- New construction mixed-use office/restaurant/retail/ plus one and two-bedroom apartment units
- Construction to begin this summer.