Just more than a year after the Jefferson City Council approved a redevelopment plan for the former St. Mary's Hospital site, Farmer Holding Company plans to start construction.
Farmer Holding subsidiary F&F Development plans to construct a building for a Starbucks restaurant across Missouri Boulevard from the old hospital.
Demolition of the main hospital building will also start soon, FHC representatives and city officials said Tuesday.
Curt Neuenswander, who leads development and construction projects for Farmer Holding Company, confirmed to the News Tribune that Jefferson City's first freestanding Starbucks restaurant will be built on a lot owned by FHC at 505 Missouri Blvd.
"We're pretty excited to just get something going over there," Neuenswander said.
Starbucks currently has kiosk locations in Jefferson City within Hy-Vee at 3721 W. Truman Blvd. and Target at 735 W. Stadium Blvd.
A Starbucks spokeswoman said in an emailed statement that the store will open in spring 2019 and employ 25 people.
The building will be 2,257 square feet in size, according to building permits filed by F&F Development with Jefferson City and approved Monday.
General contractor J.E. Foster Building Co. specializes in building fast-food restaurants. Neuenswander said J.E. Foster has built hundreds of other Starbucks locations.
J.E. Foster President Josh Foster said the company recently remodeled a building in the Schnucks plaza at 1709 Missouri Blvd. that formerly housed RadioShack; it's now MOD Pizza.
Neuenswander said construction on the new Starbucks will start in about two weeks.
J.E. Foster will build the building's exterior, while Starbucks will finish the interior later, Neuenswander said.
"They control the interior," he said. "We've got to get the shell done, then it's on them to get the interior done."
Starbucks has about 24,000 locations in 75 markets, according to the company's website. Starbucks will own this location, Neuenswander and Foster said.
The Jefferson City Council approved a plan in August 2017 for Farmer Holding to redevelop the site of the 113-year-old hospital using tax increment financing.
FHC proposed building a $44.6 million project involving Lincoln University or a $30.9 million project creating only commercial space. If built, the Lincoln plan would build 21,000 square feet of commercial space on four construction pads and leave space for Lincoln University in the old hospital for its nursing or other programs. The commercial-only option would spread 30,200 square feet of commercial space across six construction pads.
FHC sought $7.3 million in TIF assistance for the Lincoln project or $6.7 million for the commercial project. The plan approved by the council leaves it up to FHC to decide which project to pursue.
City Counselor Ryan Moehlman said Tuesday that the agreement does not require FHC to inform the city of which project it plans to pursue.
Neuenswander said the Lincoln project is still under consideration.
"It's been a work in progress for a while," he said. "We're still working on a solution to that."
FHC said, at the time of the plan's approval, that under both plans, a medical office building and original parts of the hospital would remain standing and be converted into offices. In June, though, the Jefferson City Historic Preservation Commission unanimously approved Farmer Holding's application to demolish the original 1905 portion of the hospital. Farmer Holding subsidiary F&F Development, which oversees the redevelopment, plans to remove, clean and reuse the existing stone portion of the original hospital for a new building to be constructed in the same style and location.
Jefferson City Building Official Larry Burkhardt said FHC submitted an application for a demolition permit for the site last week. Approval of the demolition permit has been delayed as the city waits for the demolition contractor to be approved for a business license in Jefferson City.
Neuenswander said demolition of the old hospital is about to begin.
Work was underway at the old hospital Tuesday afternoon. Burkhardt said the demolition permit still had not been granted, but FHC had permission to disconnect utilities at the site and set construction equipment in place.
Until the demolition permit is approved, Burkhardt said, the city tries to "gently remind" the contractor what they can and cannot do.