Loft tour shines spotlight on downtown life in Joplin

May 12—Downtown Joplin is being rediscovered and has more and more people living an urban lifestyle that was on the wane in recent past years.

The Joplin Downtown Alliance's first downtown lofts tour gave area residents a chance to see what downtown living is like now in restored historic buildings such as the Muir Building, Frisco Building and Columbian Building, and to dream about what it could be like in structures like the old Joplin YMCA Building, the Olivia Apartments and the Hollcroft Building that are under restoration.

"Downtown has a lot happening," said Lori Haun, executive director of the Downtown Joplin Alliance. "It's finally becoming evident that downtown is changing. It's not just empty, there are things to do and places to live here, and there's a lot of investment and momentum of things happening.

"Currently, we have about 350 finished units downtown. We had 65 of those completed last year and we have about 200 more in the works right now. People who live downtown spend money downtown."

The tour included nine historic buildings that have either been renovated or are in some stage of renovation.

JoAnn Graffam and her mother, Kay Hollis, both of Joplin, talked with the Globe at the Muir Building at the start of the tour and at the Olivia Apartments at the end of the tour.

Graffam said at the start of the tour she was really looking forward to two stops on the tour.

"The Frisco Building because Mom worked in the Frisco Building for years," she said. "Growing up I went to doctors and dentists in the Frisco Building, so I'm very excited to see that. Then also the Olivia."

"I was a dental assistant in the Frisco Building," Hollis said. "There were a number of dentists and doctors in there. I was in there probably 15 or 20 years ago after they remodeled it the first time. We knew someone that worked there so we got to go downstairs where the old ticket office was and the part that nobody ever gets to see much."

Jill Halbach, who works at the Joplin Public Library and allowed tours of her apartment in the Muir Building, said she welcomed a number of people in the first 30 minutes of the tour.

The Muir building has eight apartments, six on the second floor and two on the ground level. It's also home to Coley's Cookies, 108 S. Main, where the Downtown Joplin Alliance set up for people to start the tour and get their tour programs.

This was a stop where people could see a place that has been finished and is serving as both a living space and a retail business.

Halbach lived in the neighboring Willard Building watching as builders renovated her current home.

"They were putting the finishing touches on the apartment as I was moving in and it's part of the Muir Building," Halbach said. "So where Coley's Cookies is and all of this are part of the Muir Building. This unit and part of the other ground-level unit are part of a 1910 addition but the original building was built in 1891."

Halbach said she likes urban living and being able to walk or ride her bicycle almost anywhere she needs to go.

"I like that this area is in a transitional phase," she said. "I like that not everything is done. It's in a good part of downtown. It's not right in the heart of downtown, but it's close enough to that you get the best of that while sort of being on the outskirts of downtown."

Another stop on the tour, the Hollcroft Building on the corner of Fourth Street and Virginia Avenue, displayed a building before its renovation.

Marcee Carpenter, real estate agent with Keller Williams representing owner Jennifer Longnecker, said this building is being converted to eight condominiums that people can buy, something that's missing from downtown Joplin.

This building was constructed as a livery in 1906 and replaced a building that burned in 1901. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Hertz operated its car rental business out of the building, but it has been vacant for a number of years.

"The condominiums will be on the north side ground floor and on the floors above," Carpenter said. "Parking will be on the south side of the building and each unit will have two indoor parking spaces. We'll have a rooftop terrace. We're just excited. it's a great location."

Mike and Tiffany Blair, of Joplin, listened intently as Carpenter and another volunteer on the tour talked about the history and plans for the Hollcroft building.

"We love downtown Joplin and we'd love to see it thriving in any way possible," Mike Blair said. "One of the things we're excited about is the number of apartments and different living spaces that are getting renovated. It's not just new stuff, it's taking all the nobility of the old YMCA, the livery building we're in, creating more options for more people to be downtown, which will help the businesses and the restaurants thrive."

The final stop for most on the tour was the historic Olivia Apartments. This building, constructed in 1901 and named for owner Arthur Bendelari's mother, was the scene of extensive damage to its roof and upper floors in a fire in December 2020.

That damage has been repaired and work has begun to restore the Olivia as apartments.

Paula Callihan, a tour volunteer and member of the Murphysburg Historic District board, said she told people entering the Olivia that they were walking into a miracle.

"It's a miracle this building made it through the fire, and it's a miracle we found a buyer that had some vision and wanted to keep it intact, historically intact," Callihan said. "We feel like as far as Murphysburg, this is an anchor for us. When this gets done and the Schifferdecker House gets done and the Zelleken and the A.H Rogers homes they are going to be our big anchors for this district. It is going to mean a lot for us."

Callihan said the tour gave people a chance to get into some of Joplin's historic buildings, a chance they might not otherwise have.

"I always say you've got to get people in love with something before it's successful, and to bring them in and see this what it used to look like and what it could look like, it gets people in love with it," Callihan said. "This building is easy to fall in love with for some reason. Everyone loves this building."

After about three hours of walking, Graffam and Hollis ended their tour at the Olivia and said it was definitely worth the effort.

"The education about what's going on in downtown Joplin was definitely worth it," Graffam said. "Just so many things happening and so fun to see the history, I used to go to dentist appointments and things in the Frisco Building and learned how to swim at the Y. To see what's happening in all those areas is pretty cool."

Hollis said she'd like to come back when some of these buildings are finished.

"I remember being in some of these buildings," Hollis said. "This one, the Olivia, I came here for a tour before. The rooms upstairs had walls lined with wood panels and they were great. After all the steps, I may not be able to get up tomorrow, but the buildings were all just gorgeous."

Lofts tour locations The nine buildings on the May 6, Downtown Joplin Lofts Tour were the Muir Building at 108 E. Ninth St., the Haughton Block at 826 S. Main St., the Frisco Station Lofts at 601 S. Main St., the Columbian Building at 418 S. Main St., the Pennington Lofts, 512 Virginia Ave, the Hollcroft Building at 401 Virginia Ave., the Downtown YMCA at 510 S. Wall Ave, the Independent Building at 215 W. Third St., and the Olivia Apartments, 320 S. Moffet Ave.