JOPLIN, Mo. — When Souls Harbor moves to their new location, that will leave both of their existing locations on Main Street available.

But Lori Haun, the Executive Director of the Downtown Joplin Alliance, says that property probably won’t be on the market for very long. Several buildings in the 900 block of Main have recently been renovated and are now home to several new businesses. She says another will be rehabbed shortly.

Haun says there are already a thousand people living in downtown housing units, and she says there’s demand for a lot more apartment space.

“And their properties are all would be good candidates for additional redevelopment like we’ve seen in that area and other parts of downtown as well, upper floor housing potentially, you know, restaurants, retail on the ground the ground floors, all that kind of stuff so there is a lot of potential there for that,” said Haun.

Haun says the Souls Harbor buildings are actually in a lot better shape than those around them that have been rehabbed. And with the cost of construction so high right now, she says it makes financial sense to redo existing structures instead of build brand new.