Springfield Business Journal_2020-11-09

$2.00 · SBJ.NET NOV. 9-15, 2020 · VOL. 41, NO. 16 Awards publication starting on Page 9 Davis Properties named Developer of the Year SCA also awards Design Team of the Year for Nixa school by Christine Morton · cmorton@sbj.net With a distaste for eyesores in the community, Warren Davis works to make sure buildings do not end up down this path. But it’s rare that any develop- er would take on an empty 1 million square feet. Ten years ago, that’s what Davis did when he purchased the former Solo Cup Co. plant on North Glenstone Avenue. A $22 million investment and nine tenants later, his company is receiving Developer of the Year hon- ors from the Springfield Contractors Association. The top hardware in the Salute to Design and Con- struction Awards banquet on Nov. 5 went to Warren Davis Properties LLC. “It’s very unexpected, kind of unbelievable,” owner Drury breaks ground on $27M Enterprise Center O’Reilly family provides naming-level donation for academic building by Mike Cullinan · mcullinan@sbj.net Two decades after its last academic building project began, Drury University kicked off the construction phase of its Enterprise Center with an Oct. 29 ground- breaking and naming ceremony.  The O’Reilly family provided the lead donation for the newly dubbed C.H. “Chub” O’Reilly Enterprise Cen- ter, a $27 million, 56,700-square-foot building. Drury officials say the family’s naming-level gift amount is undisclosed for the project, which is entirely funded by private donations. Rita Baron, Drury Board of Trustees chair, said funds were raised from 180 donors. The donation is from Rosalie O’Reilly Wooten, Larry O’Reilly, David O’Reilly, and Charlie and Mary Beth O’Reilly; Rosalie, Larry, David and Charlie are siblings, and all but Charlie graduated from Drury. “We really feel good about putting his name on this,” Wooten said of her dad. “We have a lot of great respect and feel that we owe Drury a lot for what it has given our family.”  Chub O’Reilly earned an asso- ciate degree in business at Drury in 1965, Baron said, noting he took night classes while raising a family and running a business. He co-founded O’Reilly Auto- motive Inc. (Nasdaq: ORLY) in 1957 with his father, Charles F. O’Reilly, according to Springfield Business Journal archives. “He really put a high value on gaining more knowledge in a very general sense to help run his business and for his personal satisfaction,” said Wooten, a 1964 Drury graduate and emeritus trustee. MCKENZIE ROBINSON TOP DEVELOPER Warren Davis and his team have invested $22 million in the Solo Cup complex. See SCA on page 34 See DRURY on page 39 Tim Cloyd : Campus event space is doubling in the building project.