BRP Architects plans move downtown as founder exits

Geoffrey Butler is now semiretired but plans to continue working for a couple years.

Geoffrey Butler, the founder of 45-year-old Springfield architectural firm BRP Architects, has exited the business as the remainder of its staff prepares to move by month’s end to the Heer’s building on Park Central Square.

BRP Architects Managing Partner Christopher Swan said the departure of Butler, who founded the company in 1978, marks the end of its leadership transition process.

“We started a concerted effort in 2013 to do a leadership transition in the firm,” Swan said. “In 2017, I became managing partner. This is really the last effort in that transition. It’s really on Geoffrey’s timetable.”

Butler said in January of this year he transitioned to become a part-time employee, sold his interest in the business and began trimming back his duties. He expected to continue working for the firm through the end of the year. But sometimes plans change, he said.

“The only problem was, part time based on the projects that I had was still 50 hours a week. That didn’t work,” he said.

“Toward the end of August, it dawned on me that the only way I’m going to be able to slow down is to quit and go into semiretirement, which is what I’m doing.”

Officially quitting as of the end of September, Butler said he’s divvying up the roughly 15 projects he was still working on at the firm. He’ll retain some and let other staffers take the rest.

“Eventually, I’ll slow down to a level that I can live with. It’s not cold-turkey retirement. It’s semiretirement aiming for full-time retirement,” he said, adding the process will probably take a couple years.

He also plans to provide architectural services when time allows for Butler Construction Management LLC, a company started earlier this year by his son, Sam.

Aside from Swan, other shareholders in the firm are Michael Harned, Gerri Kielhofner, George Mandrik, Benjamin Van Eps and Angie Way.

To the square
BRP Architects moved in 2005 to its current location in the former Universal Paint building at 319 N. Main Ave. in downtown Springfield, back when the company was called Butler, Rosenbury & Partners Inc. It once leased two floors of the three-story structure but has since reduced that to a portion of one floor, as staff at the firm were trimmed, according to Springfield Business Journal archives. Most of the cuts took place during the Great Recession in 2008.

BRP still ranked No. 2 on SBJ’s list of area’s largest architectural firms, published in March. It reported 19 architects, which includes architects in training and a total staff of 26 – numbers that are still accurate today, Swan said.

Swan said the firm will occupy 7,272 square feet on the first floor of the Heer’s building, roughly 30% larger than its current North Main Avenue space.

“For us, this location was appealing as it had very little capital investment because there’s not a whole lot we have to do,” he said, declining to disclose renovation and relocation costs. “The location is great for our employees.

There’s easier access to the goods and services and restaurants, nightlife and everything else that’s happening downtown.”

New carpeting and furniture are going in, while some offices were removed to create a more open floor plan in part of the space that was previously occupied by health care information technology firm IntrinsiQ LLC, a division of the AmerisourceBergen Specialty Group. The company had leased over 17,000 square feet in the building, which is owned by Fargo, North Dakota-based Edgewood Real Estate Investment Trust, according to past reporting. An additional 9,230 square feet for an adjacent suite is listed with SVN/Rankin Co. for $16 per square foot annually, according to LoopNet.com.

Swan said BRP signed a six-year lease for an undisclosed rate with Edgewood REIT. The firm is serving as its own architect for infill work at the office, with Springfield-based Limitless Construction LLC as general contractor.

Once a department store, the Heer’s building sat vacant for nearly 20 years until it was converted in 2015 into 80 apartments by Kansas City-based Dalmark Development Group, according to past reporting. Along with adjacent parking garage access, Swan said BRP staff will be able to utilize the building’s fitness center, game room, theater, kitchen area and rooftop deck.

“This is a collaborative business, and to collaborate it’s really good to be in person, at least part of the time,” he said. “We made a conscious decision after the pandemic that everybody is coming back to the office because this is the kind of work we do. If we’re going to have everybody come back to the office, they really do need a first-class, quality office space so that they know they’re valued when they’re here.”

A new chapter
As the firm plans to move Oct. 27 in advance of reopening in its new location Oct. 30, Swan said the exit of Butler coinciding with the new office space marks a new chapter for BRP.

“Geoffrey has had a huge impact on the Springfield architectural community and its built environment,” he said. “What’s interesting to me is not just that his firm has succeeded 45 years but that so many of the firms in town were built out of Butler, Rosenbury & Partners. From that perspective, when you think about all the architects he’s helped train, mentor, guide and work with over the years and see them now practicing, it’s a pretty incredible footprint he’s left.”

Examples include Dake Wells Architecture Inc., nForm Architecture LLC and Insight Design Architects LLC, which Swan said all have leadership at BRP in their work history.

Butler said BRP has had a legacy of grooming and training professionals, which is something he reflects on with pride.

“It’s quite an accomplishment to look at all the other firms around town that came through our office,” he said, adding he’s also had great partners in the firm go on to success beyond architecture.

For example, he said one of the firm’s longtime partners, Tim Rosenbury, who joined BRP six years after it started, left in 2020 to work for the city of Springfield as its director of quality of place initiatives.

Regarding the more significant projects in his time at the firm, Butler said serving as architect for the Juanita K. Hammons Hall for the Performing Arts and CoxHealth’s The Meyer Center are standouts.

“It’s just been very rewarding over the last 45 years,” he said. “Those aren’t just clients; now, they’re friends.”

Swan, who has worked with Butler for 25 of the company’s 45-year history, is skeptical that full-fledged retirement is in store for the longtime architectural firm leader.

“Geoffrey is an amazing guy. He’s not one to stop working,” he said. “What most people envision as retirement is not what Geoffrey Butler sees as retirement. Geoffrey jokes that he will die with a felt-tip pen in his hand and voicemails on his cell phone.”

Walking away from BRP is the right decision, Butler said, adding that sometimes when founding architects retire, the firm folds because there is no succession plan.

“That’s not the case here. I can honestly say BRP has a good future,” he said. “The new office is going to be great for them and it’s time for a change.”