Burrell Behavioral Health and its parent company, Brightli, has purchased the property that was once Rainbow House at 1611 Towne Drive. The company did not disclose the purchase price.
Burrell announced January 21 that the 1.49-acre property and 18,000-square-foot building will be redeveloped into an intensive residential facility for individuals undergoing treatment for mental health conditions. Vince Winn, Burrell’s vice president of integrated health services, said in a news release that the facility will have sixteen bedrooms capable of accommodating Burrell clients for spans of six weeks to two years while they seek treatment.
“It’s not meant to be a permanent residence for anybody,” Winn said. “It’s not in lieu of a psychiatric hospitalization if a client is in need of that experience and level of observation.”
Rainbow House opened its emergency children’s shelter at that site in 1986 and closed in September 2024. The first Burrell clients will move in and begin treatment at the Towne Drive property in the late spring of 2025.
Schneider Electric Seeks Chapter 100 Tax Break
Schneider Electric has plans for a $73 million, 58,000-square-foot expansion of its plant off Paris Road on the city’s north side and has asked the Boone County Commission to approve a property tax abatement as incentive to expand in Columbia rather than one of four other locations. Schneider Electric has manufactured circuit breakers at the plant since 1978.
The expansion would bring 241 new jobs to the plant, according to the “Project Frontier” briefing provided by the Columbia Regional Economic Development Inc. (REDI). The company currently has 427 full-time employees earning an average annual wage of $54,839. If approved, the requested 50 percent abatement on new property would result in an estimated property tax increase of $2.34 million over the next decade.
Coming, Going, and Not Going
The boarded-up Hardee’s restaurant at 200 S. Providence Rd. could soon house the city’s seventh McDonald’s. Planning documents filed with the city in mid-January included a drawing for a McDonald’s at that site where Hardee’s closed in April 2023. McDonald’s also has locations on the Business Loop, The Shoppes at Stadium Boulevard, East Nifong, East St. Charles Road, Smiley Lane, and Clark Lane.
It was party-pooper news just before Christmas: Party City is closing all of its stores nationwide, ending nearly four decades in business. The Party City store at Broadway Marketplace, 21 Conley Road, is included on that list and is expected to officially close in February.
Kohl’s is closing twenty-seven stores across more than a dozen states by April, according to a press release that noted the closures are a small fraction of the chain’s 1,150 stores. None of the closures are planned in Missouri, meaning Columbia’s Kohl’s is not on the chopping block.
Quick updates: It’s looking clearer that Trader Joe’s will take up shop in the former Macy’s building off Stadium Boulevard, just a stone’s throw from Chick-fil-A and the new HomeGoods and Five Below stores at The Shoppes on Stadium. Speaking of Chick-fil-A, the chain is targeting south Columbia for the city’s second location.
Snow-Covered Sidewalks
The city took to Facebook after the last ice and snow accumulation to remind us that property owners and occupants are responsible for clearing snow and ice from sidewalks. The regulation is spelled out in Chapter 24 of the city’s ordinance code, which requires sidewalks “to be free from snow, ice, and other hazards.”
The social media post added: “The city is actively enforcing these rules to ensure safety for all.”
If you got a citation for failing to clear your sidewalk, we’d love to hear from you. (But, seriously, let’s clear our sidewalks.)
