Real estate negotiations at the Greene-Christian County line have fallen through.
Mercy and its partner holding companies will not purchase, annex and rezone about 27 acres of land on South Innovation Avenue along U.S. Highway 65 at the Evans Road exit. The Springfield City Council stopped its action on a bill to annex the land from unincorporated Greene County into Springfield, and will not rezone the property for institutional use.
Springfield Zone 4 City Councilman Matthew Simpson withdrew his sponsorship from an annexation bill at the City Council meeting, putting a halt to the property becoming part of Springfield.
Mercy did not disclose any potential uses for the property, or whether the use would have involved hospital, clinic or office construction.
Greene County Assessor’s Office records show Kenneth and Helen Stoddard and their heirs as the owners of 26.9 acres lying just west of Highway 65. The far southwest part of the property is in a flood plain as designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
According to planning documents, Mercy’s purchase of the property would not have happened without a rezoning, but negotiations for a sale broke down sometime between a Springfield Planning and Zoning Commission hearing in December and a City Council meeting Jan. 23.
The withdrawal also stops talks for a southern extension of Southwood Road, which comes off the Evans Road roundabout.
Mercy and/or partner holding companies (Tea Properties of Missouri I and Tea Properties of Missouri II) own much of the property along Highway 65 south of Riverbluff Road, the western road off the Evans Road exit from Highway 65. One Eighty-eight LLC owns the property where Innovative Dental’s 30,000-square-foot clinic sits on the west side of the highway.
