The Hoogland family business known for starting the Family Video chain in Springfield, which grew to 800 stores before closing in 2021, is moving its corporate office to Tennessee.
Keith Hoogland, president and chief executive officer of Glenview, Illinois-based Highland Ventures, Ltd., made the announcement on the corporation’s website. A September opening is planned for the Nashville offices.
Meanwhile, Gus Gordon, executive director of the Hoogland Center for the Arts, said he did not expect any changes to the building’s name despite the move.
Charles and Kathleen Hoogland donated $1 million from the Hoogland Family Foundation to the Springfield Performance Center endowment fund in 2004. The donation gave the Hooglands the opportunity to name the building.
Officials at the University of Illinois Springfield said Monday that the Hoogland name will remain in the atrium of the Recreation and Athletic Center (TRAC). The couple also donated $1 million through the foundation when TRAC was built. It was opened in 2007.
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Highland Ventures moved from Springfield to Glenview, about 20 miles northwest of Chicago, in 2003. About 100 employees work in the office. The company’s commercial real estate portfolio is valued at over $800 million, according to its website.
Family Video Movie Club began in 1978 as a subsidiary of the predecessor company, Midstates Appliances & Supply Co., founded by Charles Hoogland’s father, Clarence in 1946. Charles Hoogland died in 2020.
In early 2021, the company announced that all 250 remaining video store locations would close, including the only remaining Capital City store at 1802 North Grand Ave. E.
Ryan McCrady, president and CEO of the Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance, said that while the move is not good news for Illinois, businesses have their reasons for making the decision.
“He was very open about the reasons for his decisions. We’re in no position to argue or refute any of that,” McCrady said. “The best we can do is continue to try to build the best environment for businesses that we can here in our community and do everything we can to make our community a competitive option for retaining and attracting businesses.”
McCrady said the Growth Alliance has contracted with NextSite, a national development consulting firm, to market and promote a number of retail sites throughout the community. Holding companies or trusts related to the Hoogland family still own the former video store properties in Springfield, and NextSite “can help” bring options to their properties, McCrady added.
“The Hooglands have been a huge part of our community’s history and (currently),” McCrady said. “We’re honored to have their name and their investment here for as many years as we have and their impact is evident. Some of those things wouldn’t happen without their support, so we’re grateful for this.
“They have to make a decision that they have to make for a number of reasons, but that will never diminish how grateful we are for what they’ve done for our community all these years.”
Just a few years after making the $1 million gift, Charles and Kathleen Hoogland got community members to donate after the arts center was threatened with closure, said Gordon, who became executive director in 2013.
“I don’t think it’s a stretch to say if it wasn’t for Charles and Kathleen, we wouldn’t be here today,” Gordon said.
The Hooglands’ gifts were “purely philanthropic,” Gordon said, and they never sought a seat on the arts center’s board.
At this point, “we certainly have no desire or intention to change the name of the building,” Gordon said. “Who knows what the future will bring, but it’s not even on our radar at the moment.
“They have been very generous to us in the past and for that we are eternally grateful.”
Keith Hoogland, who took over operation of the company from his father, Charles, in 1995, told the Chicago Tribune last week that Illinois was “a shrinking state” and taxes were “going to get worse before they get better.” He added that the plan “is to slow growth in Illinois or stop it. I’m not buying office buildings here and I’m probably not going to open a pizza place here.”
In Springfield, Marco’s Pizza has a location in the former Family Video location at 3211 W. Iles Ave. Family Video partnered with the Ohio-based chain in 2015.
Contact Steven Spearie: 217-622-1788, [email protected], twitter.com/@StevenSpearie.