McGowan Takes Ownership of Heer's Building on Thursday

If you’ve been by the Heer’s building lately, it doesn't look any different.  But it is changing, in terms of ownership.

As of Thursday, Kevin McGowan, a St. Louis developer, will assume ownership of the building.  He's agreed to pay the city $3 million for it.

His development firm, McGowan-Walsh, is actually splitting.  But Springfield's Director of Economic Development Mary Lily Smith says all agreements were with McGowan and his wife, so despite the firm's split, the deal is still on.

"The city has signed the closing documents today (Wednesday) and will be overnighting them to St. Louis.  Tomorrow (Thursday) we anticipate Kevin McGowan will sign the closing documents and wire the funds to the city and we'll be done." says Smith.

The city and McGowan have agreed to extend a November 1^st deadline regarding incentives for McGowan, incentives like tax increment financing or property tax abatement.  Smith says for every day McGowan delays asking for those incentives the city has another day to consider his requests.

McGowan has not specified what he intends to do with the building, but has floated the idea of condos or a boutique hotel.