Downtown rebirth mixes Joplin's past, future

May 4—Joplin is looking more like its old self every day.

But there's a lot that's new, too.

One by one, turn-of-the-century buildings and houses that have survived since they were built in the late 1800s and early 1900s are returning to use, many retrofitted and adapted for new uses after being neglected and vacant.

A leader in that effort has been Neal Group Construction, owned by Jeff and Carolina Neal, who became modern day pioneers in 2004 by taking on a downtown historic building redevelopment project, the Columbian Apartments at 418-420 S. Main St.

Neal is a Joplin native who had worked overseas as a contractor after serving in the U.S. Air Force and teaching political science in the Air Force Academy. Carolina Neal is a lawyer from Costa Rica who formerly worked in academic, private and public sectors. She manages the administrative work of the couple's business, Neal Group Construction, and he is the chief executive officer.

"I am really proud of what we have accomplished in this time frame," said Carolina Neal.

"When we chose the Columbian Building, I kind of had the feeling if we do this one right, we can really show the city a path forward for the future and bring some hope to the city," she said. It feels good to know that that feeling and ambition has finally happened and you can see people enjoying living here. You can see hope. You can see huge new investments.

Now, there are many other private developers coming downtown along with building owners and buyers who want to repair and use the old and historic buildings.

"People are saying 'I want to be downtown.'" Carolina said. "That never was our goal, but it is the effect of what we have done. That's what makes me wake up every day and keep coming to work."

Jeff Neal grew up here, then was away pursuing first his military career and then overseas construction for 19 years.

"For someone who grew up here to be able say, 'I was a part of that,' and 'I was a part of that,' is real exciting and an almost humbling experience. If you think about all the great partners that have come together to make this happen."

In 2007, Neal and two other developers, Matt Miller, of Springfield, and Jay Burchfield, of Columbia, who was doing a project in Neosho, saw state historic preservation credits as turning rehabilitation into a game changer for downtowns with empty buildings. The future was repair and reuse of those buildings for commercial, retail, lofts and apartments.

"The buildings we do without tax credits are easy, but without tax credits, we're over on Range Line developing, not Main Street," Burchfield said then.

"When we buy buildings and restore them now, there was already a Jeff Neal who did it and set the stage for us, and we've found more is more in downtown revitalization. The more people we have downtown, the more people want to live downtown."

That is what happened in Joplin.

Lori Haun, executive director of the Downtown Joplin Alliance, said the downtown has grown so much it is becoming economically viable again.

It has been several decades since that was the case, she said. The last time there was any large scale construction or redevelopment in the district was probably in the 1980s when the blocks north of Fourth Street on Main were the site of new construction after the Urban Renewal era had demolished some of the downtown's old buildings. That redevelopment involved construction of the former Joplin Public Library building, what formerly was the Commerce Bank building, Messenger Towers and others.

She said tax credits have made the current redevelopment efforts in downtown possible.

Rents and property costs on Range Line are much higher than in the downtown, Haun said. "You can't invest the same dollars as you do on Range Line," and get the same returns. "Tax credits take your investment down to where you can afford a project downtown," versus other locations.

"They were huge to get the ball rolling and redevelopment happening."

There are more than 300 people living downtown now and a large number of once-empty buildings are home to 500 businesses that employ about 5,100 people, Haun said based on data from the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce. There also are more buildings coming that will offer apartments or lofts.

One of those projects in construction now is an $8 million repair and rehabilitation of the Olivia Apartments building at 320 S. Moffet Ave. That is a project made possible by the principals of Blue Haven Investments that took on the building to save it after it was long vacant and then damaged by fire in December 2020. That will bring another 34 apartments. Another of their downtown projects in the process now that will add downtown residential space is a $5 million remodeling of the former Downtown Y building at 510 S. Wall Ave.

Downtown has other historic buildings that need work but have not yet found rescuers as the Olivia and Y found with Blue Haven. Those are the Union Depot and now the fire-damaged Carnegie Library.

The new, though, is taking its place amid Joplin's buildings of yesterday.

The recently completed Harry M. Cornell Arts & Entertainment Complex at 212 W. Seventh St., 15 years in the making, opened in November after two years of construction. The $19 million complex was constructed with donor contributions to the local arts organization Connect2Culture, which had been working to bring a performing and visual arts center to Joplin for many years.

"The Cornell Complex, although not a traditional economic development project, is in fact an economic development project. It will draw residents and their dollars to the downtown area, as well as draw in area and regional audiences to the performances, and create more business opportunities for complimentary services and additional art-themed projects in the downtown district," said Travis Stephens, president of the Joplin chamber.

Haun said the Cornell Complex is an example of what can happen when redevelopment gains traction in a downtown district, and it will likely be an important building block for the downtown's future.

"Cornell Complex is the biggest evidence of what's going on downtown," showing people who may not have realized how much change has come to the district until they see a building like that or those recently completed in the 900 block of Main Street, which brought new businesses.

Those tell the story to casual observers because "it becomes visible that something is going on downtown," Haun said.

Just yards away from the Cornell Complex is the new Jasper County Courts Building, 633 S. Pearl Ave.

Completion of the $35 million center marks a new era for county court services on the west side of the county and completion of a seven-year county building program of $66.8 million for the county's juvenile center in Joplin, the county jail in Carthage, and renovations to upper floors of the historic courthouse in Carthage.

City Manager Nick Edwards said there is more to come from the city for the downtown district. The city has obtained grant funding to rebuild streetscaping features in midtown, which is the area from 10th Street to 15th Street. The city also is looking for grant availability to replace the Pennsylvania Avenue bridge, closed in 2019 because of structural issues. Funding assistance also is sought to repair the Sixth Street parking deck on Virginia Avenue.

Edwards as well as the Neals and Haun credit investors and business operators for their foresight to invest in downtown.

"I think every major mid-sized city has it's fair share of national chains and we certainly have our share and we're glad that those businesses are in our community," Edwards said. "But downtown is really where communities show their identity and show their values and offer an opportunity to differentiate themselves from the rest of the pack. I'm just thrilled to see the investment into our downtown and see it become revitalized."