Vacant Lot Home to Developing Vacant Lot
FairCityNews.com | Nov 30, 2010 | Comments 0
Springfield, MO—A prime piece of land that has been vacant for years in downtown Springfield will soon be developed, city officials announced on Tuesday. The 1.7 acre lot between the Springfield Expo Center and the Jordan Valley Car Park has seen plan after plan fall through, but starting next month construction will begin on The Center for Developing This Vacant Lot.
The $1.3 million facility will be used primarily for meetings with potential developers for the site. It will house a large conference room, kitchen, several offices, and a recreation room with ping pong and foosball tables.
“This will be a state-of-the-art meeting facility that’s sure to impress developers,” said a Springfield city manager, who came up with the idea for the CDTVL. “We did consider just holding meetings at City Hall, or even at Ziggie’s, but we really just wanted to go ahead and get something, anything, built on the site.”
Some area residents have questioned the wisdom in constructing such a building. “It’s asinine to build a huge building on a lot for the sole purpose of holding meetings to determine what to build on the lot,” said local businessman Donald Rapier. “What are they going to call it when it’s built? The Center for Developing This Lot That Is Now Occupied By This Building?”
The city manager admitted he hadn’t thought of that: “I guess we’d have to change the signage on the building once it’s built,” he said, “because technically it would no longer be a vacant lot.”
Filed Under: Economy