The Branson Board of Aldermen gave first-round approvals last night to Mercy’s development plan at State Highway 248 and U.S. Highway 65 in Branson.
The first reading bill amends a planned development comprising five parcels, including the former Branson Inn and the Oak Ridge Boys Theatre – properties now owned by the St. Louis-based health system.
Mercy plans to build a roughly 60,000-square-foot, $30 million clinic on the former hotel site. Joel Hornickel, Branson’s interim director of planning and development, said the hotel in the center of the planned development was demolished this summer, and Mercy has acquired the adjacent Oak Ridge Boys Theatre from the group who owns The Mansion Theatre. Hospital officials have expressed interest in using the theater property to expand health care services in Branson, but no firm plans are in place.
“They got it down and got grass seed on the ground, and you wouldn’t even know there was a building there before,” Hornickel said of the former Branson Inn. “They haven’t defined exactly what their development looks like, yet. They’re just going to be starting their planning phase within the next weeks to identify what they’re going to be building.”
The five-parcel planned development stretches between Yakov Theatre, 470 State Highway 248, to the north and a Conoco gas station, 432 State Highway 248, to the south, where 248 intersects 65. Shows are ongoing at the Yakov and Oak Ridge theaters.
The expansive planned development was originally created for a
proposed condominium high-rise project that never came to fruition, Hornickel said. In late 2006, Branson aldermen approved the
$100 million Point Entertainment Complex pitched by HCW Development LLC and Evergreen Investments LLC. The scuttled plans called for a 25-story resort hotel, including condos, retail and a top-floor restaurant, as well as an adjacent conference center and classic car museum.
“The PD is a mechanism of zoning that affects the properties within it,” Hornickel said.
According to the 22-page bill, Mercy is seeking use for outpatient and inpatient health care services, medical offices or clinics, a pharmacy and a helipad.
“The condominiums never went through, and Mercy came around and identified the property as a great opportunity,” Hornickel said. “They came in and bought those parcels and changed the PD to the medical, clinic type uses. It will have no effect on the other current parcels within that planned development.”
Branson’s Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously recommended approval of the amendments Oct. 1. A final aldermen reading is scheduled Nov. 19.[[In-content Ad]]
