The iconic Myers Building in downtown Springfield, which has been in the same family for three generations, could soon have a new owner.
“It is going up for auction,” said Michael Myers, a retired Springfield attorney who is one of the 15 family members who have partial ownership of the building. The commercial real estate firm Marcus & Millichap will be handling the auction, which is scheduled to go live early next month.
“This is a 98-year-old building in the third generation of the family. When you go that long, a lot of the (family) members don’t live in Springfield anymore,” Myers said. “The connection to Springfield gets more and more tenuous as the years go on. This is not something that’s uncommon when you have a business that goes for three generations.”
A little more than half of the 10-story, 100,000-square-foot building at the southwest corner of Fifth and Washington streets is vacant, according to the listing on Loopnet advertising various office suites with up to 54,198 square feet available.
The Illinois Treasurer’s Office moved out in 2019 after Chase Bank downsized its downtown location and donated its building at 1 E. Old State Capitol Plaza, the former Springfield Marine Bank, to the state.
Remaining tenants include a law firm, along with several nonprofits and small businesses, including Myers Commercial Real Estate, a commercial real estate firm operated by Steve Myers, one of the family members.
“It is a viable building, but like any building, we’d like to get more tenants,” said Myers. “But we do have more adjacent parking than just about any other building downtown – there is a parking lot across the street, and right behind the building.”
In 2022, a Kansas-based housing developer abandoned plans to purchase the property and convert the building to residential use. Prime Co. wanted to create 114 apartments with rents at below-market rates and finance the deal through the Illinois Housing Development Authority, but then-mayor Jim Langfelder declined to support the project, saying he wanted to see at least 80% of the units earmarked for market rent.
“That was an unfortunate result,” Myers said of the failed deal. “All we needed was a letter (of support), and it would have provided over 100 apartments downtown. It wouldn’t have cost the city a dime, but it wasn’t in the cards.”
Now, Myers hopes that the auction might finally result in the building changing hands.
“We hope to get a buyer, but nobody knows,” he said.
