Shelter unveils corner office plan

Columbia Daily Tribune, October 18, 2005 issue

Plans for an office complex at one of Columbia's major intersections met little opposition during a neighborhood meeting Sunday at Shelter Insurance Co., company spokesman Joe Moseley said.

Shelter Insurance recently purchased the 5-acre site previously occupied by a Burger King restaurant at West Broadway and Stadium Boulevard and plans to build Shelter Office Plaza, a three-building office complex the company will lease out.

Shelter purchased the land from the Joyce Murray Trust, according to a deed filed with Boone County.

Moseley said neighbors from nearby homes and Second Ward Councilman Chris Janku attended a 45-minute meeting at Shelter Insurance’s training building to learn more about the proposed development and give feedback.

"It was a very positive meeting with the neighbors," Janku said.  “Shelter showed the plan and answered questions.  It will be a quality development."

Janku said about 10 neighbors came to the meeting and were pleased with the development and Shelter’s plan to address traffic issues.

Cars traveling east on Broadway caused backups when trying to turn left into the Burger King.  Shelter's development calls for special traffic turn lanes and entrances farther east from Stadium Boulevard to address past congestion issues, Janku said.

Moseley said the neighbors were focused on knowing how tall the buildings were going to be and about landscaping.

"They didn't want three-story buildings," he said.  "And they wanted green space."

The 60,000-square-foot office building complex will have three buildings in a campus-like setting.  A two-level 40,0000-square foot building will occupy the approximate site of the former Burger King at West Broadway and Stadium.  A 10,000-square-foot one-level building fronting West Broadway will sit to the southeast, and a similar building will be built to the east.  The buildings will have "pitched roofs" and the exteriors will feature "brick and stone and a lot of glass," Moseley said.

The office complex includes green space, landscaping and a center part with brick walkways.  The development will have parking in front of each building and a main lot at the north end of the complex.

Plans for the project were filed several weeks ago with the city's planning department.  The project requires city approval.

"Construction is expected to start in the spring and be completed before the end of 2006," Moseley said.

Berger Devine Yaeger, Inc. provided master planning and architectural design.