MSU Foundation sells Meyer Alumni Center to CFO

The Missouri State University Foundation finalized the sale of the Kenneth E. Meyer Alumni Center to the Community Foundation of the Ozarks.

The sale was announced Feb. 15 at the Alumni Center in Springfield.

“This building has been a great home for the Missouri State Foundation, alumni relations and advancement,” said Brent Dunn, executive director of the Missouri State Foundation.

“The sale gives us the opportunity to move to a more visible facility on campus with more room, event space and more opportunities for collaboration. The sale is a win-win. It will give us the opportunity to take advancement to the next level. And it will allow the Community Foundation to expand their space as well.”

From left to right: Brent Dunn, Executive Director of the Missouri State University Foundation; Winter Kinne, President and CEO of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks; and Dean Thompson, Chair of the CFO's Board of Directors.

The CFO, currently located at 425 E. Trafficway St., created a Facilities Review Task Force in 2022 to assess its best options to gain more space for its Springfield-based staff and more parking for guests to the CFO. The goal was to remain in central Springfield. Working with real estate broker Ryan Murray of R.B. Murray Co., the task force learned the MSU Foundation is planning to relocate to a new site on campus.

“The CFO will continue to provide a sturdy anchor for this iconic downtown building,” CFO Board Chair Dean Thompson said. “It will serve the CFO’s goals of providing regionwide philanthropic leadership for many years to come while also creating a long-term revenue stream from the additional tenants to support the purchase.”

The CFO will occupy the fourth floor of the Alumni Center, located at 300 S. Jefferson Ave. in Springfield, after infill is completed by early next year. The Missouri State Foundation will lease back its space until it moves to campus and will continue to manage and operate the building until 2026.

The current tenants will continue to occupy the rest of the building. The building will be more than 90% occupied after the CFO moves in by early 2025.

Missouri State University is a public, comprehensive university system with a mission in public affairs. Our purpose is to develop fully educated persons with a focus on ethical leadership, cultural competence and community engagement.

Based in Springfield with offices in Cape Girardeau and West Plains, the Community Foundation of the Ozarks is the region’s largest public charitable foundation serving donors, nonprofit partners and 54 regional affiliate foundations — including the Cape Area Community Foundation — with assets totaling $427 million as of June 30, 2023. The CFO’s mission is to improve the quality of life for everyone in central and southern Missouri through resource development, community grantmaking, collaboration and public leadership.