Construction to begin soon on Wildwood Crossing power center

Located just west of the new Lowe's Home Improvement superstore, the new 17-acre power center will be known as Wildwood Crossing. It will feature several national retailers and perhaps national chain restaurants.

Wildwood Crossing is owned by Larry Kolb of Kolb Properties and Dick Otke Construction, which is co-owned by Dick Otke and Gary Oberkrom.

The firm also developed a 25.98-acre tract at the southeast corner of Missouri Boulevard and Wildwood that was sold to Lowe's for a new 115,000-square-foot home improvement center that opened at the end of 2000.

Oberkrom said the south side of the Wildwood Crossing development will feature perhaps eight retail stores.

The north side of the power center along Missouri Boulevard will be available to retailers or restaurants.

Originally, it was thought that the Olive Garden and Outback Steak House would open restaurants along the prime Missouri Boulevard frontage.

But Kolb and Obercrom said no announcement can be made at this time on any restaurant or retail firms for the center.

"There have been many rumors about who is going to occupy the center and which restaurants are going to be out front. But no announcements have been made at this time," Kolb said.

Kolb said attorneys have been working on final lease documents with several firms. "We have received building plans from potential tenants. Architects and engineers are incorporating those plans into our building plans," Kolb said.

Construction will start this spring on the first 50,000 square feet of the center this spring. Kolb said construction is expected to be completed this late fall and the first stores will open in the center in the spring of 2002.

"We anticipate having the entire center leased by the time we finish construction of the first phase," Kolb added.

Oberkrom said the 17-acre center will have about 900 parking spaces.

"We have no names of stores to announce at this time. We have plans for several stores in hand and we are close enough in the process to begin construction this month," Oberkrom said.

"We are excited about bringing high quality national retailers to Jefferson City," Oberkrom said.

The Lowe's superstore was the largest retail development last year in Jefferson City.

Local industries also contributed to the building activity in Jefferson City last year.

Scholastic, Unilever and ABB also expanded with more than $53 million in building and equipment projects completed last year. Von Hoffmann Press added 120 new jobs at its Jefferson City plant last year.

This year the state will keep Jefferson City commercial construction moving ahead with its huge new prison project in the Algoa area just east of Jefferson City. The one-half million-square-foot project is expected to cost more than $150 million.

A new 33,500-square-foot Modern Litho plant was completed with a fascia in the firm's signature shade of blue.

A 20,000-square-foot climate-controlled warehouse was added to the Fechtel Beverage building in Jefferson City.

Capital Region Medical Center completed a remodeling of its Southwest Campus. It included a 15,000-square-foot area with an 8,000-square-foot fitness center with an indoor track with a special carpeted surface.

A two-story 15,000-square-foot headquarters building was built by the Jefferson City Highway Credit Union.

A new 5,850-square-foot new building was completed by the new law offices for the firm of Riner & Walker.