by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Sleiman Enterprises is eying Springfield as a possible site to build a Walgreen’s. Neighborhood advocates are excited by the interest, but less enthusiastic about the developer’s proposed location: Klutho Park.
Sleiman representatives have talked informally with the City and the Springfield Preservation and Revitalization Council, Inc., about building a Walgreen’s drug store on a site currently occupied by the park. SPAR president Louise DeSpain said the early development plans she saw would force the park to be moved. She said the building design also lacked the historic look needed to fit in with the neighborhood’s ongoing redevelopment.
DeSpain said the drug store would be welcomed so long as its design and location are changed to mesh with its surroundings. Sleiman Enterprises might be willing to do just that said John Kiddy, vice president for development with Sleiman.
Kiddy said Sleiman was only scouting locations and said he’d had only informal conversations with the City about building in Springfield. He said Sleiman would consider other sites in the area and said the developer wanted its architecture to fit with the area. Kiddy wouldn’t comment on how likely it was that Sleiman would build in Springfield.
DeSpain said the neighborhood was also willing to bend to accommodate the drug store. She said a Walgreen’s would provide convenience for residents in the redeveloping neighborhood.
The City is searching for ways to entice retail downtown. It’s seen as an essential second step to residential development. There are only so many people, the reasoning goes, willing to move to an area where they can’t buy milk or toothpaste.
DeSpain said she’d rather see a Walgreen’s on Main or 8th streets, the area’s main commercial corridors. She noted that the City had already committed to renovating Klutho Park. She said the park serves as the neighborhood’s gateway, and she said it would be impossible to find a new location.
“Obviously we want to protect and preserve historical structures and land, we can’t bring back an area without its historic values intact,” said DeSpain. “But we’re not saying we don’t want anything to happen. We would be very amenable to the kinds of shopping that provides essential services.”
DeSpain used the Riverside Publix shopping center as an example of smart, convenient development, using a small piece of land.