Martin and Laurie Haxel keep increasing their footprint in downtown Springfield. The couple started with 310 E. Adams St., which houses offices for their own businesses, Haxel Law and Haxel Consulting, but over the past five years they have acquired four adjacent properties. Now, they are hoping the Springfield City Council will approve a TIF request – their first – to help facilitate development of their most significant renovation yet.
The Haxels purchased the building at the corner of Fourth and Adams streets in May 2023 for $435,000 through their limited liability company, Lexah Inc., according to Sangamon County tax records. The property at 322 E. Adams St. has been vacant for more than three decades since a state agency moved out in the 1990s. In 2020, a group of local investors announced plans to turn it into Public Market, a food hall with a rooftop bar, but that didn’t materialize.
The Haxels recently finished replacing the roof on 322 E. Adams St. and have worked with architect John Shafer to compile a $3 million scope of work that includes interior demolition, new HVAC, plumbing and electrical service, elevator modification and replacement and interior finishes, in addition to exterior updates.
The Springfield Economic and Community Development Commission reviewed a request for $1.5 million in funding from the Central Area TIF at its Nov. 21 meeting.
“We have invested $1 million or more of our own cash doing what we’ve already done,” Martin Haxel told the commission, referring to the couple’s renovations on adjacent properties. “We’ve never asked for government money for any of it.”
In 2019, the Haxels purchased 316 E. Adams St., which now houses Whimsy Tea on the main level. The same year, they submitted the winning RFP to the Downtown Springfield Heritage Foundation, a nonprofit that facilitates the preservation and rehabilitation of historic downtown buildings, and purchased 312 E. Adams St.. That property was redeveloped into first floor commercial space and two-story townhouses on the second and third floors. The two apartments received the Downtown Springfield Inc. award for best residential redevelopment in 2023 and the main level is now occupied by The Keep Store. In 2021, the couple acquired 314 E. Adams St.; the commercial space is now rented to Moxie Massage.
“Even before that project was done, another opportunity presented itself,” said Haxel, referring to the purchase of 322 E. Adams St. “We had to try to grab it and see what we could make out of it, knowing we already had the four buildings to the west.”
Val Yazell, director of the city’s Office of Planning and Economic Development, told the commission: “This is a bigger (TIF) ask than we’ve had in a long time, but there’s nothing in the state statute that says you can only request a certain amount.”
She noted that the downtown TIF, which has already been renewed twice, will expire for good in six years and said that the tax base in the TIF district has been trending downward due to increased vacancies and demolitions.
“We have to look at what’s best for the taxing bodies… otherwise, we let (this building) sit, and at the end of the TIF, there’s going to be nothing,” Yazell said.
Sangamon County Treasurer Joe Aiello, who serves on the commission, echoed those sentiments.
“We have to do something downtown… it’s a bit of a mess right now,” Aiello said. “I like the fact that you’re stepping up,” he told the Haxels.
Several commissioners noted that the property is across from the 400 block of East Adams Street where the fire occurred this summer and expressed hope that the project would be a catalyst for recovery efforts along the corridor.
Ward 5 Ald. Lakeisha Purchase told the commission that she has been working closely with Yazell and OPED to find a user for the large, vacant building.
“We’ve been working on this project for over two years,” Purchase said, naming several companies who were approached about taking over the space but ultimately declined. “We exhausted all the possibilities, but this will help the momentum and have a positive impact.”
In the presentation to the commission, Haxel said the couple may eventually relocate their own offices to the upper level of 322 E. Adams St. to have more space, but said the project is primarily speculative since there is not a tenant in the works for the space.
What is certain, he said, is that TIF funding is needed to make the project happen.
“We know the rental income won’t come close to paying for the cost of the renovations,” Haxel said. “But this project checks all the boxes – it rehabs a long-vacant building, increases the tax base and brings people downtown.”
The commission voted unanimously to approve the funding request, although its recommendation is non-binding. The City Council is scheduled to vote on the matter Dec. 3.
