SBJ From the Ground Up: Volt Credit Union

From the Ground Up: Volt Credit Union

2624 W. Republic Road

BY: ERIC OLSON, EDITOReolson@sbj.net

Posted online October 1, 2018 | 3:13 pm

Owner/developer: Volt Credit Union
General contractor: Federal Construction Inc.
Architect: Buxton Kubik Dodd Design Collective
Engineers: Lee Engineering and Associates LLC, civil; Miller Engineering PC, structural; and Buxton Kubik Dodd Design Collective, mechanical, electrical and plumbing
Size: 11,000 square feet
Estimated cost: $2 million, per city permit
Lender: None
Estimated completion: early January 2019
Project description: Formerly Community Financial Credit Union, the 80-year-old financial institution rebranded this summer, and officials say this new headquarters is central to the identity and cultural shift. The credit union currently operates one branch, on Tampa Street downtown, after leaving Walnut Lawn Street and National Avenue to make way for Kum & Go’s convenience store expansion. Volt Credit Union President and CEO Loretta Roney said a marketing campaign dubbed Revolt Against Banking as Usual coincides with the name change and new branch. “We’re really trying to take away the traditional bank environment,” she said. The lobby is designed with teller pods and dialogue towers for clients and staff to congregate around, she said, as well as a coffee station and tech area for videos, games and educational content. Roney said Frank & Maven agency is handling marketing and VoltCU.com is under development by Hook Creative.

Green County Family Justice Center set to open Oct. 1

An interview room at the Family Justice Center located on the second floor of the Greene County Courthouse

(Photo: Nathan Papes/News-Leader)

The new furniture has been delivered. The walls are painted. The staff — including victim advocates, law enforcement and prosecutors — have moved their desks into the cubicles.

The Greene County Family Justice Center will open on Oct. 1, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. The event will also serve as a kickoff for Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

Prosecuting Attorney Dan Patterson, Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams and a domestic violence survivor will speak at the ribbon cutting. There will be an open house at the center until noon.

The center is located in the second floor of the Greene County Courthouse, in a 3,000-square-foot space that was once home to the prosecutor's office.

The center's project coordinator, Jamie Willis, explained that the location is temporary. The center will probably be housed in the courthouse for one to three years.

"The county commissioners were super amazing in letting us use this space temporarily," she said. "Because without that, this would not have been able to happen as quickly."

Once the center is in operation, Willis said the steering committee will have a better idea of what a suitable permanent location would look like.

Described as a "one-stop-shop for victims of domestic violence," the center brings together law enforcement, nonprofit service providers like Harmony House and the Victim Center, legal services, children's division and the prosecutor's office all in one location.

Willis recently gave the News-Leader a tour.

"It's a lot different atmosphere than it is out in the courthouse," she said, motioning around the front lobby to the freshly painted, pale blue walls.

Within the center, there are four "soft interview" rooms. Each room has a couch and living room-type furniture, rather than just a table and chairs common in traditional interview rooms.

Local interior designer Kris Evans, with Buxton Kubik Dodd Design Collective, donated her time to create the soft interview rooms.

"The courthouse is not really a friendly environment," Willis continued. "Especially for people in crisis. So when they come in, the atmosphere completely changes."

When victims come to the center, they will be checked in and screened. Then a navigator — a victim advocate from either Harmony House or the Victim Center — will explain what service providers are at the center. The victims decide who they want to talk to in the interview room.

Books and Buildings: Student housing developments not diminishing dorm occupancy

BY: KYLE BOAZ, REPORTERkboaz@sbj.net

Posted online September 17, 2018 | 3:48 pm

Books and Buildings: Student housing developments not diminishing dorm occupancy

Springfield is in the midst of a near decadelong student-housing boom. Since 2009, nearly $185 million has been spent to keep roofs over those seeking higher education. 

Following the development of Eko Park in August 2009, there have been at least 20 projects developed specifically for student housing in the Springfield area, and three more developments are set to open in the next two years, according to Springfield Business Journal research. SBJ search parameters comprised multitenant student housing complexes based on proximity to campuses and the target student demographic for developers.

Even with that growth, there is no concern about students filling up the dorms at Missouri State University.

“We’re pretty close to capacity,” said Gary Stewart, director of residence life, housing and dining services at MSU.

Since the student-housing boom began almost 10 years ago, MSU’s enrollment is up 4 percent to 21,309 students in fall 2018-19, according to MSU’s website.

All first-year students are required to live on campus unless they are over the age of 21 and students need 30 credit hours, said Stewart. Those stipulations are usually met at the completion of freshman year.

Ozarks Technical Community College benefits from the expansion of student housing since its campus lacks that ability.

OTC sits in between two student-housing complexes, the 85-unit Greenway Studios on East Webster Street and the 580-bed Aspen Springfield at 1028 St. Louis St. 

“The increased options for student housing give those students who are looking for a place to live when they move to Springfield more choices,” said Mark Miller, director of communications at OTC, via email. “Plus, the increased supply of student housing helps keep the cost affordable for OTC students, most of whom work part- or full-time while going to college.”

In the last decade, enrollment at OTC’s Springfield campus is down 12 percent to 7,447 students currently. In 2009, enrollment was 8,503, according to school officials.

Another local university echoed the sentiment that the housing boom isn’t affecting on-campus living.

“I don’t think we’re seeing a significant impact from that trend at this time,” said Mike Brothers, executive director of university relations at Drury University. “We are a traditional residential liberal arts college experience and part of that means living on campus.”

The 38,000-square-foot University Suites was added to the Drury campus in 2012 for its upperclassmen student population. It can house 72 students.

“It’s typically full. That’s the most desirable on campus,” said Brothers.

Drury has three residence halls, which Brothers said are 95 percent full, reserved for freshman and first-time college students. 

Drury has a residency requirement, and to live off campus, students have to be a junior or senior and over the age of 21. Brothers said there are some exceptions, like medical needs or living within 30 miles of campus with family. 

The demand to live off-campus at Evangel University is waning, according to school housing officials. 

“They actually have had less requests than in years past,” said Evangel spokesman Paul Logsdon.

In the six residence halls at Evangel, there are 1,030 occupied beds out of the 1,272 available for both male and female students, said Pam Smallwood, Evangel’s housing director.

Students at Evangel that take less than nine credit hours, live at home with family, are married, over the age of 23 or have a special circumstance are allowed to live off-campus, according to the school’s off-campus information criteria. 

More on the way
The developments are still coming. 

St. Louis-based Cornerstone Development Inc. is building a 348-bed complex at 430 E. Walnut St. slated to open in August 2019. 

The $23 million project dubbed Vue on Walnut is on schedule and leasing for the complex will begin in the next few weeks, said Cornerstone Development President Sam Chimento. 

Another current project in excess of $20 million is the new dormitory for MSU. At Holland Avenue and Madison Street, it’s scheduled to be completed by Bryan Properties LLC in fall 2020.

The dorm’s estimated cost is $24 million and it will have room for 400 students, according to MSU officials.

With the new developments near MSU, the company behind the Bear Line service has not considered adding additional lines.

“Most of the builders are building closer to campus instead of farther away,” said owner Howard Fisk of Fisk Transportation LLC. “It’s become a bigger campus community versus one spread out all over Springfield.” 

The last route added was a temporary one used for shuttling to Ellis Hall and Hill Hall two years ago.

“They tend to do experimental routes when things like this pop up,” Fisk said.

Fisk does not consider the housing boom a detriment to business, adding most Bear Line stops are within a few blocks of the new properties developed.  

How the boom happened
The project that kicked off the boom for student housing came in 2009 with the development of the $8.5 million Eko Park Apartments at Catalpa Street and Kansas Expressway, two miles southwest of MSU. 

Beacon Commons, University Suites, Deep Elm, The Jefferson and Beacon Park Apartments were the next developments to follow. 

In the summer of 2015, four new housing options came on the market. Near Hammons Student Center, the 40,000-square-foot The Qube opened at a cost of $7 million. The 32,000-square-foot, $4 million Greenway Studios went up at 934-940 E. Webster St., near OTC, and Pad Madison, the $2 million project at 405 E. Madison Ave. also opened that summer. The market also attracted Austin, Texas-based Aspen Heights Construction LLC to build the $40 million Aspen Springfield across from Hammons Field. That was the fourth property to open that summer.

Recently, the final phases of Bear Village were completed with the total cost of the project now at $48 million. 

800 South opened in August at 830 S. Robberson Ave. and already is at 99 percent capacity, according to past SBJ reporting.  

The newly developed Boomer Town Studios has a majority of students as tenants, said Brent Brown. 

“From what I’m seeing and hearing about the overall occupancy is we’re still filling these places up,” Brown said. 

Brown also owns Greenway Studios and said that property is about 60 percent students.

One of the largest development projects costing nearly $30 million was Park East by The Vecino Group. 

Sky Eleven and Cresco are the most recent additions. The Sky Eleven project was realized in 2015 after a $15.5 million renovation of the Woodruff building at 331 Park Central East. The 60,000 square-foot Cresco building, a $5.5 million project, was completed in August 2017.

Moon Town Crossing: Craftsman-style event space going up fast in north Springfield

PHOTO PROVIDED BY O’REILLY HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT LLC

Crews are working to bring Moon Town Crossing to fruition by year’s end.

BY: GEOFF PICKLE, WEB PRODUCER gpickle@sbj.net

O’Reilly Hospitality Management LLC is bringing an unconventional event space to the north side by year’s end.

The hotel development and management company is targeting an early December opening for the 5,000-square-foot venue dubbed Moon Town Crossing, said Alicia Cosgrove​, area manager for O'Reilly Hospitality. She declined to disclose the project cost.

The development site is located between O’Reilly Hospitality’s Macadoodles store and its Holiday Inn Express & Suites underway at the northwest corner of Interstate 44 and Glenstone Avenue. Cosgrove said the hotel should open around the same time as Moon Town Crossing.

Moon Town Crossing features hand-carved wood infrastructure by Amish company Ozark Timber Frame LLC. With garage doors that create options for the venue to host open-air events, Cosgrove said the completed structure will resemble a barn.

“The O’Reilly family has used them for several different personal projects,” she said of Ozark Timber Frame. “They know the craftsmanship, which is kind of a lost art. They’re structurally sound and they last forever.” 

The wooden beams for the structure were made at Ozark Timber Frame’s Amish community in El Dorado Springs and shipped to the development site in Springfield. O'Reilly Hospitality hired Larry Snyder and Co. as general contractor and Buxton Kubik Dodd Design Collective as architect on the project, Cosgrove said.

The free-standing event venue between O'Reilly Hospitality’s other properties also will feature a courtyard with fire pits and seating. The goal, Cosgrove said, is to host concerts and festivals at Moon Town Crossing, as well as rent out the venue for private events. 

Cosgrove said O’Reilly Hospitality plans to add similar event venues to its lodging properties in Fort Worth, Texas, and Livingston, Montana. 

Less than two miles south of the new event venue in Springfield, O’Reilly Hospitality is building a convention center to connect its new Fairfield Inn and DoubleTree properties at Glenstone Avenue and Kearney Street.

SBJ: New Apartment Complex Nears Full Occupancy In 1st Month

SBJ PHOTO BY ERIC OLSON

The newly opened 800 South is 99 percent occupied, according to the property manager.

BY: GEOFF PICKLE, WEB PRODUCERgpickle@sbj.net

Posted online August 29, 2018 | 11:49 am

A new apartment complex developed by the family behind Enterprise Commercial Group LLC is nearly full less than a month after opening.

Rick Shortt, director of sales and marketing for apartment manager Affiniti Management Services, said the complex dubbed 800 South is 99 percent occupied, with one unit available of the 108 built. The apartment complex, 830 S. Robberson Ave., is south of Jenny Lincoln Park between South and Jefferson avenues. It opened Aug. 3. 

“I attribute it to the fact that we did a lot of new things that hadn’t been done elsewhere,” Shortt said. “There’s a heart behind this thing. We’ve gone out and done a lot of meet-and-greets.” 

Shortt pointed to amenities including Amazon Locker, which allows residents to pick up packages at their convenience with a text-message code, Peloton bikes in the fitness center and trash service three times per week. A news release also cited international influences, noting the development was modeled after projects in Thailand. 

800 South sits on eight lots Enterprise Commercial Group purchased four years ago. The Williams family’s Burning Tree Consulting served as project developer, with H.C. Rogers Construction Group LLC as general contractor and Buxton Kubik Dodd Design Collective as architect.

The developers also are aiming to help revitalize the area west of Missouri State University with the project. 

Titus Williams, co-owner of Enterprise Commercial Group, pointed to the “broken windows theory” when describing 800 South. 

“The quality of housing in a neighborhood has a great effect on crime and poverty. The lack of quality, affordable housing keeps people in a socioeconomic mind frame that will never improve. When a landlord doesn’t care about a broken window, lack of heat or other maintenance issues, it becomes difficult for a person to care about someone else or the neighborhood’s well-being,” Williams said in the release. “If developers/owners care for their properties, great things happen for that neighborhood. It takes the entire neighborhood to make a difference.

“That’s why we built 800 South, to create a new chapter in the story of the Campus West neighborhood.”

Officials are scheduled to host a ribbon-cutting ceremony for 800 South on Aug. 30. 

Enterprise Commercial Group is a newly formed company that includes the NAI Enterprise brokerage division. Titus Williams’ brother Phil is behind The Ridge at Ward Branch, a more than 90-acre, $500 million planned development on South Campbell Avenue, according to past Springfield Business Journal reporting.

SBJ: Keller Williams Greater Springfield to build new office

RENDERING PROVIDED BY BUXTON KUBIK DODD DESIGN COLLECTIVE

Keller Williams Greater Springfield is planning its new office adjacent to the Battlefield Road on-ramp to U.S. Highway 65.

BY: GEOFF PICKLE, WEB PRODUCER

From the Springfield Business Journal: 

Keller Williams Greater Springfield is moving out of its home at Claremont Commons in favor of a new office planned less than a mile away off East Battlefield Road. 

The real estate brokerage is in the early development stages for its new office on vacant land adjacent to the Battlefield Road on-ramp to U.S. Highway 65, said Dan Holt, operating partner for Keller Williams Greater Springfield. The site is at the end of a cul-de-sac on Montclair Street, south of Battlefield Road, located east of ReRico Brazilian Grill and between two hotels: Hampton Inn and Clarion Inn & Suites. 

The firm hired Buxton Kubik Dodd Design Collective as architect for the project, which does not yet have a general contractor, Holt said. He declined to estimate an opening date for the 18- to 24-month development. 

“We’ve seen that roughly cost $150 per square foot for this kind of project,” he said, comparing other developments in the Springfield area. 

At that estimate, the 30,000-square-foot building would cost roughly $4.5 million.

Holt said the new office would double Keller Williams Greater Springfield’s square footage and allow for the accommodation of up to 700 agents and employees, an increase from 365 agents and staff now. 

“We are bursting at the seams,” Holt said of the company’s leased office at 2925 E. Battlefield Road, Ste. 111.

Beyond the increased size of the planned new office, the location was appealing, he said.

“We have exposure to over 70,000 cars daily. The site was really important to us for brand visibility,” Holt said. 

The new office, Holt said, would have an open floor plan “so our staff members have more of an experience and a destination than a cubicle” and a modern architectural style.

“What we’re trying to create with our building is a campus atmosphere,” he said. 

Keller Williams Greater Springfield recently ranked 12th on Springfield Business Journal’s annual fast-growth Dynamic Dozen. The firm reported $20.3 million in 2017 revenue and three-year revenue growth of 72 percent.

SBJ.net Summer 2018 Architects & Engineers Project Report

Summer 2018 Architects & Engineers Project Report

BY: CHRISTINE TEMPLE, FEATURES EDITORctemple@sbj.net

Posted online July 23, 2018 | 2:54 pm

Architects and engineers were asked to submit projects showcasing their expertise. You’ll read about hotels, a football stadium, a senior living community and our largest project yet coming in at $500 million.

Buxton Kubik Dodd Design Collective

BluCurrent Credit Union
3216 S. Glenstone Ave.
 

Buxton Kubik Dodd Design Collective drew up plans for a new 2,500-square-foot branch of BluCurrent Credit Union as the project architect, interior designer and mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer. The $625,000 project represents a new concept in the financial sector, focused on a smaller footprint coupled with personalized member services and mobile and automated technology. General contractor Base Construction & Management LLC is working with civil engineer Lee Engineering Inc. and structural engineer J&M Engineering LLC. The project is planned for completion by February 2019.

                               :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Salon Service Group warehouse expansion
1520 E. Evergreen St.

Buxton Kubik Dodd Design Collective is providing mechanical, electrical and plumbing work for the Salon Service Group warehouse expansion and is also the project architect. The $525,000 project will add nearly 13,000 square feet to the original corporate headquarters, which Buxton Kubik Dodd designed in 2013. The project includes heated rack storage space, dock area improvements and a parking lot expansion. Larry Snyder and Co. is general contractor, while Whitlock Engineering LLC is civil engineer and Miller Engineering PC is structural. The project is scheduled for completion in late 2018.

SBJ.net CEO Roundtable: Design with Joyce Buxton

SBJ PHOTO BY WES HAMILTON

CEO Roundtable: Design

BY: SBJ STAFFsbj@sbj.net

Posted online July 23, 2018 | 2:21 pm

Springfield Business Journal Editorial Director Eric Olson sits down with Joyce Buxton, principal and director of interior design at Buxton Kubik Dodd Design, to discuss design industry trends.

Relevant design
Eric Olson: In one word, how would you characterize architecture and design right now?

Joyce Buxton: Choice.

Olson: What makes you say that?

Buxton: The best illustration is probably Missouri State University. Since the time I’ve lived in Springfield, to see how architecture was functional at that time, and now when you use the word consequential, I think the campus has become consequential in the state.

Defining a cityscape
Olson: Does a city have a character that is representative of its architecture? If so, how would you rate Springfield?

Buxton: I would say there’s not. There are certainly places that do, like Palm Springs or Chicago.

Generational design
Olson: There’s been news lately on development plans targeting the millennial audience, like the Vib and Tru hotels. What does that mean from a design standpoint?

Buxton: I don’t think it’s just hotels, and I don’t think it’s just residences. It happens in businesses, too. It used to be we all had offices, then a combination of offices and workspaces, and now I think that people want choice. I’ve heard it described as working alone together. That’s not just design for millennials; that’s just design.

Future trends
Olson: What trends are happening in other cities that aren’t here yet that we can look for?

Buxton: One unique attribute of where we live is that we have relatively lots of nice weather. I think businesses are becoming more sensitive to encouraging health and wellness to their staff. I see more and more companies evolving to practical things like bike racks or showers or fitness equipment.

Olson: What is your imaginative design? What would you create for Springfield?

Buxton: My dream project right now at this phase in my life has to do with senior living, believe it or not, which no designer would say. I think that as an interior designer, we have an opportunity to impact people’s quality of life and I think that they can do it with style and elegance.

Architectural era
Olson: How do you describe the current architectural era?

Buxton: The trend is to make spaces more multipurpose and flexible. Not to commit so much real estate for a sole function. 

Breaking News: Community Financial Credit Union plans rebranding

The new name, Volt Credit Union, will be incorporated into the company’s branch that’s under construction in southwest Springfield.

Breaking News: Community Financial Credit Union plans rebranding

BY: ERIC OLSON, EDITOReolson@sbj.net

Executives of Community Financial Credit Union announced to members Saturday they’re changing the name and brand identity in a distinct cultural shift at the 80-year-old financial outfit.

The new name: Volt Credit Union.

“There are over 1,000 credit unions in the U.S. that have ‘community’ in the name,” said President and CEO Loretta Roney. “We’re looking to be a little disruptive, to add life and energy and moxie to banking.”

Roney said about 350 members who attended the June 23 annual meeting at University Plaza Hotel were first to hear of the rebranding, which will roll out next week.

“We’re starting a campaign. Our trademark is going to be Revolt Against Banking as Usual,” she said.

Other taglines will follow during the campaign, she said. The CFCU Board of Directors has been working with Frank & Maven on the rebranding work, which she said will include the tags: Revolt Against Suits and Ties and Revolt Against High Interest Rates and Fees.

“Our new culture will have our staff dressed in Volt T-shirts and tennis shoes every day,” Roney said. “Most are working class and working hard. We want to remove any barriers of judgment.”

The new logo, designed by Frank & Maven, emphasizes a lime green tone and incorporates a lightning bolt in the letter V. It’ll be prominently displayed on a new credit union building under construction in southwest Springfield.

Officials are investing over $2 million, she said, for an 11,000-square-foot office at 2624 W. Republic Road. The credit union currently operates one branch, on Tampa Street downtown, after vacating a building at 1220 E. Walnut Lawn St. to make way for Kum & Go’s recent convenience store expansion.

CFCU slipped a spot on Springfield Business Journal’s 2018 Largest Credit Unions list to rank No. 6 with $64 million in reported assets last year. With 7,242 members as of April in its nine-county footprint, the credit union’s membership was down 3.3 percent from the prior year.

Roney said the credit union’s seven-member board and five-member executive committee has worked on the new brand concept the last two years. They also created five culture codes for internal and external relations: learning, serving, resourcefulness, togetherness and humanness.

“We ditched the mission and vision statement and went with the five culture codes of how we work and function,” she said. 

“We’re putting our stake in the ground. It’s not just a name and logo change. It’s a way of life we are starting.”

From the Ground Up: Quarry Town, Phase I

SBJ PHOTO BY ERIC OLSON

4006 S. Lone Pine Ave.

BY: ERIC OLSON, EDITOReolson@sbj.net

Posted online June 11, 2018 | 3:14 pm

Owner/developer: Green Circle Projects LLC

General contractor: Ross Construction Group LLC

Architect: Buxton Kubik Dodd Design Collective

Engineers: Lee Engineering and Associates LLC, civil; J&M Engineering LLC, structural; Buxton Kubik Dodd, mechanical, electrical and plumbing; and SWT Design Inc., landscape design

Size: 120,000 square feet

Estimated cost: $14 million, per city building permit

Lender: WND

Estimated completion: Fall and early spring

Project description: The mixed-use Quarry Town plan in Galloway Village calls for 100 apartments and roughly 20,000 square feet of combined restaurant, retail and office space in Phase I. Jessica Pearson, a senior project manager with Green Circle Projects, said the commercial space will become available in the fall, while the multifamily portion is expected to wrap in early spring 2019. The four-story apartment complex is designed with a pool, according to city building permits. A potential second phase might comprise up to 18 stilted townhomes, Pearson said. “We have not confirmed whether we will be proceeding with the townhome phase,” she said. Lone Projects LLC owns over 11 acres at the L-shaped site with frontage on Lone Pine and Allen Place. The Quarry Town property wraps around Galloway Creek, another four-story mixed-used development underway.