Construction is now complete for the new building at 2401 W. Wabash Ave., an outlot of White Oaks Mall, but Springfield-area residents will have to wait a bit longer to dine at Mission BBQ or MOD Pizza.
“We’ve reached an agreement with the tenants; the building will sit vacant for the rest of this year,” said Rob Walter, a broker with Quattro Development. “They’re national chains, so we’ve granted them some leniency on when they get in there and start paying rent. It’s not like we lost the tenants.”
In August 2019, SBJ reported that the former Town and Country Bank building on the site was being demolished to make way for a new 5,900-square-foot structure that would house the two restaurants.
Walter said, “We had some hiccups getting all the approvals that were required to redevelop the property so we started construction later than anticipated,” although the goal was still to turn the space over to the tenants in May or June of this year.
“We wish this would have been open already, but we just signed an amendment that pushes things back into next year,” said Walter, noting the impact of COVID-19 on the restaurant industry.
While Quattro Development’s portion of the construction is complete, the tenants will still have to finish out the interior of each space, which Walter estimated would take about 90 days once they begin work. He said he would anticipate Mission BBQ opening in the first quarter of 2021 and MOD Pizza in the second quarter.
This is Quattro Development’s fourth project in Springfield. The real estate services firm, based in Oak Brook, Illinois, was also responsible for redeveloping The Pasta House Co.’s original location at 2800 Southwest Plaza into a four-unit retail center, along with the Springfield locations for Aspen Dental and Red Robin.
Quattro Development also has experience with both of the new tenants. “We built our first Mission BBQ in Pennsylvania; this will be our second one,” noted Walter. “We also developed a MOD Pizza in the St. Louis area, plus locations in Oregon and Pennsylvania.
Walter said both Mission BBQ and MOD Pizza are looking to open additional locations throughout central and southern Illinois. “They’ve both signed leases in Peoria, so those locations are moving forward as well. I think they’ll wait and see how (Peoria and Springfield) perform before committing to anything else,” he said.
