Businesses Settling in and Seeing Success at Green Acres
By: Sarah Hatten
Updated: September 10, 2012
(ST. JOSEPH, Mo.) A once vacant building has been revived in St. Joseph. Five years after the old Green Acres building changed hands, new businesses are settling in.
Thad Weaver works up a smooth concoction in his coffee shop in north St. Joseph.
"Fuel" opened just a week ago in the Green Acres building behind the North Shoppes and it's already seeing some success.
"We've had quite a few people already, surprisingly," Weaver said.
He says he sees a lot of foot traffic, and since school is back in session, that's an added boost.
Northwest Missouri State graduate students are now able to take full advantage of the building.
"Students going to school helps. Definitely whenever they have their break in between classes, we get a busy spot," Weaver said.
Northwest moved from downtown into the Green Acres building in May.
The director says the change of venue may have something to do with 20% enrollment increase.
"It's been going really good, you never know when you roll out your entire program how it's going to go, but our students really love our location, they seem to love our building a lot," Melody Messner, Director of Northwest St. Joseph Center said.
Just down the hall sits another storefront that relocated from downtown.
Tammy O'Meara owns 2Trendy and says customers are getting used to the new location.
"People are now aware that we are open, that there's retail in the location, and there's more to offer like the ballroom, the Fuel coffee shop that's open," she said.
She's even expanding her store and taking over the room next door.
Property owner Don Evans says the biggest struggle is getting retail space ready for tenants.
As soon as it's available, people want it.
"There's a lot of activity pretty much all hours of the day and night around here so it's pretty cool," Evans said.
Don Evans Realty bought the property five years ago to keep it alive in the community.
"At least once a day somebody will come and say 'thank you for saving that building' which makes me feel really good," Evans said.
Vendors say the building expenses are reasonable because of the low ceilings and new facilities.
Evans says while maintaining the historic nature of the building, he plans to include more meeting rooms and a business incubator.
Thad Weaver works up a smooth concoction in his coffee shop in north St. Joseph.
"Fuel" opened just a week ago in the Green Acres building behind the North Shoppes and it's already seeing some success.
"We've had quite a few people already, surprisingly," Weaver said.
He says he sees a lot of foot traffic, and since school is back in session, that's an added boost.
Northwest Missouri State graduate students are now able to take full advantage of the building.
"Students going to school helps. Definitely whenever they have their break in between classes, we get a busy spot," Weaver said.
Northwest moved from downtown into the Green Acres building in May.
The director says the change of venue may have something to do with 20% enrollment increase.
"It's been going really good, you never know when you roll out your entire program how it's going to go, but our students really love our location, they seem to love our building a lot," Melody Messner, Director of Northwest St. Joseph Center said.
Just down the hall sits another storefront that relocated from downtown.
Tammy O'Meara owns 2Trendy and says customers are getting used to the new location.
"People are now aware that we are open, that there's retail in the location, and there's more to offer like the ballroom, the Fuel coffee shop that's open," she said.
She's even expanding her store and taking over the room next door.
Property owner Don Evans says the biggest struggle is getting retail space ready for tenants.
As soon as it's available, people want it.
"There's a lot of activity pretty much all hours of the day and night around here so it's pretty cool," Evans said.
Don Evans Realty bought the property five years ago to keep it alive in the community.
"At least once a day somebody will come and say 'thank you for saving that building' which makes me feel really good," Evans said.
Vendors say the building expenses are reasonable because of the low ceilings and new facilities.
Evans says while maintaining the historic nature of the building, he plans to include more meeting rooms and a business incubator.
