Renovations Underway at Vacant Springfield Hotel Site

Renovations are underway at a long-vacant building in downtown Springfield to convert it into a Country Inn & Suites. Located off East St. Louis Street and across from Route 66 Stadium, the property previously operated as a hotel and later housed Missouri State University students during the COVID-19 pandemic before sitting empty since 2020.

Downtown Hotel Revitalization

Ozarks Springbirds General Manager Dan Reiter stated that having a hotel adjacent to the ballpark was historically beneficial for out-of-town visitors, particularly on game days. “I do think that a hotel was effective when the time it was here,” Reiter said. “We especially saw that from fans coming from Rolla, from Jefferson City, from St. Louis, Kansas City, that they utilized it knowing that they could park their car, walk outside, and come straight to a game.” “We look at the number of people that come from outside of Springfield, and as we know, there are fans coming in, especially on the weekends… any hotel that can be close to the stadium is going to be a benefit to try to get people here.”

Revitalization Benefits Downtown Corridor

Reiter emphasized that revitalization near the stadium benefits the entire downtown corridor. “We love having new neighbors, and anything that can come to downtown that can help the area grow is going to be a benefit,” he said. Mark Hecquet, President and CEO of Visit Springfield, noted the project will increase room inventory, allowing the city to pursue larger gatherings and meetings. “We’re always looking to continue to grow downtown, and it will add new rooms, which will allow the team here at Visit Springfield to pursue different kinds of business and maybe slightly bigger groups and meetings that we’re able to bring to the downtown corridor,” Hecquet said. “It really touches on the importance of tourism. The hotel itself is a Choice brand—it will bring in its own customers,” Hecquet said. “And those customers obviously will spend time in Springfield. They’ll be at our local restaurants, shopping, buying gas, really just helping our overall economy.”