OPINION|
I embarked on this column looking up at the flagless pole atop the Heer's building. Instead, I find myself with a business tale of the Fargo company that since 2018 has purchased not only the Heer's building, but 15 other apartment complexes in Springfield. (It has subsequently sold one.)
As of today, that's 2,088 apartments in the city, which does not include the 112 being added at Orchard Park Apartments.
The North Dakota company is Edgewood REIT. It holds $1.55 billion in assets in 14 states. The company's only investments in Missouri are all here in Springfield.
A “REIT” is a real estate investment trust. REITS own or finance income-producing real estate across a range of sectors, including health care and commercial retail. They allow people to invest in portfolios of real estate the same way they would invest in stocks.
‘Look for good locations and quality construction'
Why so bullish on Springfield?
“We look for good locations and good quality construction and opportunities where we can provide growth to the property so we can get a good return for investors,” said Abigail Perry, Edgewood's vice president of multi-family asset management.
Perry lives in Ozark, not Fargo. She has an office at Orchard Park, one of the Edgewood properties in Springfield.
The complexes include developments you might be familiar with, such as Trail's Bend, 2621 S. Jefferson Ave., Tera Vera (for tenants 55 and older), 2715 S. Kimbrough Ave., and the 416 units at Orchard Park, 2601 N. Cresthaven Ave.
“We like to partner with local developers and we're also looking to purchase existing multifamily properties in the area,” Perry said. “Springfield is a market where we want to continue to grow.”
TLC Properties is major partner
One major Springfield partner is TLC Properties, founded in 1988 by Sam and Carol Coryell. Their son, Sam M. Coryell has been president since 2013.
TLC Properties has expanded to five cities in four states with more than 30 properties.
TLC manages all 15 apartment complexes now owned by Edgewood REIT in Springfield. In fact, some of them were once owned by TLC, such as Falcon at Southern Hills, 2320 S. Ingram Mill. The Coryells built it in 2017.
I wrote about the Falcon in December of 2015 while I was at the News-Leader. I met Sam and Sam M. Coryell there. The land had been owned by the neighboring Glendale Baptist Church, which had placed a memorial marker on the property for Allan M. Reece. Allan Reece died of a rare cancer at age 12 in 1982. He is buried at Greenlawn Cemetery.
The Coryells moved the memorial marker, but made sure they acknowledged Allan's short life with a plaque in the building.
Another major connection between TLC and Edgewood REIT is that in 2018 Edgewood REIT purchased a company called Missouri Valley REIT. Sam M. Coryell was on the board of directors of Missouri Valley REIT.
That's why a significant number of investors in Edgewood REIT are from the Ozarks, says Perry. They had earlier invested in Missouri Valley REIT (If you invest in a REIT you invest in the entire portfolio of holdings, not just one complex and not just the properties in one state).
Back to my question about the flag
I asked Perry the question that started Phase I of this column: Will there ever be a flag flying atop the Heer's building?
First, I feel it's my duty to explain — and confess.
I first asked this question in 2015, when the structure re-opened after 20 years of vacancy and graffiti.
The former department store was resurrected as Heer's Luxury Living, after a $15.8 million restoration. It has 80 apartments, commercial space on the first floor, a fitness center, a yoga room and a rooftop terrace with barbecue grills.
If you're new to Springfield, the Heer's building is special. When it opened there were 21,000 people in attendance.
A guy named Brian Paschalla, a lifelong resident of Springfield, asked me — the Answer Man, then at the Springfield News-Leader — if the new owners of the resurrected building were going to fly, in his words, the “Grand Old Flag” again.
For that column, I talked to Jim Nichols, CEO of the company that at the time owned the building: the Dalmark Development Group, based in Lee's Summit.
Nichols explained two concerns about flying the flag atop the Heer's.
First, he said, it was difficult for a person to get to the flagpole. An employee would have to go into the tower on top of the building and crawl up through a hatch.
About that tower — here's some historical information from the Springfield-Greene County Library, “The tower[...] contained an observatory where the public could use built-in binoculars to see far points in all directions. It was claimed that the building was situated so that it was the highest point between Denver and the Alleghanies.”
I've looked at historical photos of the Heer's building. Some have a flag flying on top of it and some don't.
Reason No. 2 for no flag; there are rules on how to fly it
Reason No. 2 for not flying a flag, as I was told in 2015, is that if you fly a flag —especially in a place of prominence on a tall building on a downtown square — you need to abide by the rules of how to fly it. People will notice if you don't.
Flag code dictates it should only be flown from sunrise to sunset, unless illuminated during darkness; it should not be flown if damaged; and it should not be flown during rain, snow or wind storms, unless it is an all-weather flag.
When I asked about the Heer's flagpole in 2015, the owner of the building said he'd make a decision on a flag “after the holidays.”
Many, many holidays have come and gone. Eight years worth.
He never called me back, and — I admit — I never followed up.
As a result, I have felt shame each and every time I looked up at the of Heer's building since then. I should be wearing a Scarlet Letter F — for “flag.”
Here is Perry's answer to the flag question (2023.)
“That is a desire that just recently was brought to my attention by a local Springfield acquaintance,” Perry tells me. “The Heer's department store did fly a flag on that building. As I have thought about it, the logistics are challenging for us … putting someone up there to take a flag up and down. I honestly haven't started exploring our options yet. But it is on my list of things to do over the next year.”
This time I'll call her back in a year.
This is Pokin Around column No. 136.
