Three years ago, Springfield City Council approved an incentive package for a proposed development in west Springfield to transform an abandoned mobile home park into a commercial retail center. Now, the developer is hoping to add the option of developing multifamily housing as commercial development is taking longer than expected.
Located at the northwest corner of Sunshine Street and James River Freeway, the project known as Brody Corners has been working to transform the formerly abandoned mobile home park into a retail location stretching across roughly 28 acres. While some progress, including the addition of a Kum & Go gas station, has been made since a tax increment financing district, or a TIF, was created in 2022, the developer is hoping to add multifamily housing to bring more businesses to the property.
The TIF allows incremental increases in property tax revenue to be captured and redirected toward improvement projects within the district’s boundaries. TIFs are used to support redevelopment of blighted property that would not be possible if not for the incentive. Brody Corners is owned and pursued by West Sunshine Development LLC, registered to Mike Seitz, owner of Triple S Properties, according to the Missouri Secretary of State business database.
How does the Brody Corners TIF work?
The TIF was created after the property was declared blighted, with abandoned structures and trash littering the area. A 2014 court judgement found the property in violation of Missouri’s Clean Water Law, with a wastewater treatment facility in disrepair and acting as an unsanitary sewage lagoon, according to previous News-Leader reporting …