The law firm of Giffin, Winning, Cohen & Bodewes has been located in the downtown area since its inception more than a century ago, but that is about to change. As of May 9, the historic law firm is moving to the former Illinois Press Association building at 900 Community Dr. The IPA relocated to 2501 Chatham Road, Suite 200, as of April 15.

Logan Giffin founded the firm that later became known as Giffin, Winning, Cohen & Bodewes in 1911, and it was originally located at the corner of Fifth and Adams streets in what is now known as the U.S. Bank building. It remained there until 1976, then moved to space on West Jefferson Street before leasing space in the Myers Brothers Building in 1990.

In a 2011 interview with the State Journal-Register commemorating the firm’s 100-year anniversary, Herman Bodewes, who joined the firm in 1965 and worked with the founder, said leaving the heart of downtown was “an awful mistake that was made back then.”

Giffin, Winning, Cohen & Bodewes is one of the anchor tenants in the Myers Brothers Building, which is currently under contract to a Kansas developer who plans to convert the downtown Springfield office complex into affordable rental housing. However, Illinois Times reported in April that the deal is on hold because the developer and the city of Springfield disagree over how many units to utilize for affordable housing, jeopardizing the project’s funding from the Illinois Housing Development Authority.