Downtown Building Barons
Tom Atkins started a “mini Renaissance” of downtown in 1999 when he and his son, Scott, started renovating what has become the Atkins City Centre at 9th and Cherry streets, housing the Columbia Art League, 9th Street Bookstore and the Cherry Street Artisan.
After winning several historic preservation awards in 2002, the Atkins duo turned their attention to a pair of historic buildings on Broadway, including the Miller Building, which now houses Sycamore, one of the city’s finest restaurants.
Glen Strothmann then got into the act, buying several buildings in need of renovation, including the landmark E.W. Stephens Publishing Building at Broadway and Hitt streets, where he plans to restore the old clock tower next year.
John Ott quickly surpassed Strothmann and the Atkinses in terms of real estate holdings, buying a share of the historic Tiger Hotel, the Paramount Building across Cherry Street from the Atkins City Centre, a row of buildings down the street at the edge of campus and most of the 900 block on Broadway’s south side.
What compels this foursome and other major players in the downtown market, including the Waters family and the brothers McClung and Harper, is more than the bottom line.
cbt investigates who owns the most property downtown, who owns the most expensive buildings, where the blue spaces would be found in a game of Columbia-opoly, and what motivates the new generation of buyers in a hot market.
BUYING TRENDS
In the past few years, downtown property has been bought and sold at the swiftest pace in decades. Experts on downtown real estate say the district has experienced a phenomenal number of “flips” and that the activity indicates a healthy real estate market.
“If you put a reasonable price on a piece of property downtown, you’re going to sell it,” Tom Atkins said.
The federal and state tax credits for renovating historic buildings, following strict guidelines, made some of the renovations possible, Atkins said. Now that the entire Special Business District is a designated historic district and eligible for the credits, the renovations are hastening.
OTHER MAJOR PLAYERS
Other major players in the downtown property game are the McAlester family (Berry McAlester is the trustee), which owns $1.5 million worth of property downtown, and Robert Gerding, who has properties listed under his name that are appraised at $1.6 million. The Gerding properties include the West Cherry Plaza where, Vangel and Associates is located, the 5th Street offices of his CPA firm, and the building down the street where Premier Bank’s lending center and several apartments are located.
Stan Kroenke is another player. His various limited-liability companies own several buildings downtown, along with the huge tract of land waiting to be developed along Providence beside Walgreens (a $2.4 million building owned by out-of-state developers).
The banks have the most expensive real estate holdings downtown. The buildings owned by Boone County National Bank are appraised at more than $8 million, and those held by First National Bank are appraised at $4.4 million.
But overall, the biggest property owners are the county, which owns the buildings on a two-and-a-half block section of downtown, the City of Columbia and the University of Missouri; MU’s off-campus properties downtown are appraised at $3.3 million.
The appraised property values printed here come from the Boone County Assessor’s office and are used for property tax purposes.