Downtown's College Station development is set to open this fall, and many in the Springfield business community are anxiously waiting to see if it will help center city with its vacancy rate or just add to it.

Set to open this fall—the College Station development could prove a tipping point for downtown Springfield's vacancy rate.

Developer Scott Tillman has already found his anchor tenant, a 14-screen cineplex run by Hollywood Theaters. It's the other 80-thousand square feet of commercial space that many folks are curious about.

"The surrounding infill is where a lot of questions remain, because there has yet to be named a single tenant for that space," says Eric Olson, Springfield Business Journal editor.

If you've been downtown the last few months you've probably seen the available space at College Station is far from unique. Just last month Well Fed Head books was the latest spot to not renew its downtown lease—instead, they're making the move south to Fremont Center.

“It begs the question of why and what we can do to prevent this from happening again," says Olson.

According to Springfield Business Journal, property closer to Park Central Square is having the hardest time finding tenant, which one realtor says is directly tied to uncertainty about the Heer's redevelopment project.

"It's only natural that people are going to take a step back and watch that unfold," says Olson.

It's not all doom and gloom for center city, however. Despite the recent closing of Ophelia's, the 100-thousand square foot Wilhoit Plaza is at 94 percent capacity, picking up several new tenants including the popular moxie cinema. In fact, Wilhoit is proudly letting folks know that there's just one last spot open.

The popularity of College Station could also play a role in filling up empty downtown space. Wilhoit Properties co-owner Matt Miller says if the movie theater can attract 500 thousand people in its first year, as predicted, more businesses will be willing to give downtown a try.

For more on the downtown lease situation and all the rest of your local business headlines, click here for SBJ’s website.