Opinion: Let’s dream big for Lake Springfield master plan

Last edited 4:03 p.m., Sept, 29, 2023

We need more dreamers in business. Well, we could use more throughout the world, too. But this is about the dreams of businesspeople.

It’s even better when the dreamers are wealthy – or know wealthy people – willing to fund those big dreams.

We have dreams percolating around Lake Springfield lately. Ever since City Utilities of Springfield decommissioned the aged power plant on its banks and demolished the smokestacks, city leaders have been poking around for ideas of what to do with some 1,000 acres of publicly owned land in southeast Springfield.

I’m sharing two ideas for the area; let’s call them dreams. They’re two examples, really, of what could be incorporated into the Lake Springfield master plan.

They both came up during my 12 People You Need to Know live interview this month with Erin Danastasio of the Hatch Foundation.

She’s a dreamer. Just ask her. And thanks to her grandfather Bill Darr’s $900 million business sale four years ago, there’s some money to potentially connect with her dreams. Danastasio’s already doing it through Hatch, a philanthropic foundation with some $40 million to provide grants to arts, outdoors and entrepreneurship causes. One thing she’s got her eyes on is Lake Springfield, and the foundation already has contributed $100,000 toward a hydrological study and a master plan for economic development, recreation, transportation and land use.

“There’s so much potential,” Danastasio told me and the crowd at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema. “I could go down the rabbit hole. I dream pretty big.”

So, let’s look at those dreams in other communities that became reality.

Idea No. 1: Look to the southwest, across the border in Arkansas. There’s The Momentary, a sister venue to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. Danastasio brought it up when she was talking about a vision for the Lake Springfield area. It’s a contemporary art space to complement the historic pieces Crystal Bridges is known for. But more than that – and here’s the kicker for us and the dreamers – organizers transformed a decommissioned 63,000-square-foot cheese factory. Now, it’s a multidisciplinary space for visual and performing arts, culinary experiences, festivals and artists-in-residence. Those organizers are none other than Walton family members, Tom, Olivia and Steuart Walton.

On-site, there’s a 70-foot tower for social gatherings and the Tower Bar on top, an Onyx Coffee Lab, and the Rode House and Bar for dining and drinks in the adjacent Arvest Bank Courtyard. The Momentary Green is a place for outdoor concerts and festival activities.

Oh, and the property sits along the Razorback Regional Greenway. You can see the potential and similarities to Springfield’s lake property.

Idea No. 2: Another example development is called The Gathering Place in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Greg Burris of United Way of the Ozarks referred me to it earlier this year when I told him I’d be visiting Tulsa. He spoke highly of it, and it didn’t disappoint.

Along the Arkansas River, the 66-acre park near downtown features winding trails, free canoe and pedal boat rentals, eye-catching rock formations, water features, playground and picnic areas, and beautiful horticulture. Additionally, the QuikTrip Great Lawn holds concerts and movies, and there are courts for basketball, volleyball, soccer and hockey, as well as a skateboard park. Another foundation is behind this project: the George Kaiser Family Foundation. But also, another 80 corporate and philanthropic organizations came together to provide funding, according to GatheringPlace.org. All told, it was a $464 million investment mostly privately funded and led by oil industry billionaire George Kaiser, according to media reports.

Construction took four years before the park opened in 2018. It became voted USA Today’s Best New Attraction in 2019 and Best City Park in 2021. In five years of operation, the Gathering Place has had 10 million visitors, averaging 2 million per year.

Dreams can be turned into reality. And you can see these ideas came together through a shared vision of community enhancement, business opportunity and individual monetary resources, can’t you?

The city of Springfield has held two public input meetings and surveys, and the next step is an open house scheduled 6-8 p.m. on Oct. 12 at the Art Museum. Follow along and provide input at LakeSGFPlan.com.

Springfield Business Journal Editorial Vice President Eric Olson can be reached at eolson@sbj.net.