Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – A local law firm’s expansion is a precursor to its move into a former bank building, says Michelle Ownbey, executive editor of the Springfield Business Journal.

“Haxel Law has expanded into the space that was vacated last year by the Keep Store,” Ownbey told the WTAX Morning Newswatch. “Martin and Laurie Haxel own quite a bit of that block there in the 300 block of Adams. They’ve got several spaces they rent out to different tenants, and they have recently added two new attorneys and expanded the space that their own company is occupying.”

Ownbey says the story does not end there. “A few years back, they bought that old bank building at the corner of Fourth and Adams that’s been vacant forever and ever. They had gotten TIF money approved by the city council to offset some of the renovation costs; they were looking at a $3 million project. I think that building has been vacant for three decades or more, and Laurie said that is still in the works. They had some delays; they thought they had a tenant lined up for the first floor, but that fell through, but eventually the plan is to rent out that first-floor space and move their offices to the second-floor space.”

An unrelated development involves another former bank space: the former U.S. Bank along Cook Street which Springfield Clinic used as a drive-thru covid test station. Ownbey says the Illinois State Police Heritage Foundation will be moving in.