Cape Girardeau mayor: $1 million from casino deal will fund several community projects

More details are emerging about the $125 million casino proposed for downtown Cape Girardeau, including what sort of community projects the city's development deal would pay for and specifics about the gaming facility itself.

While it has already been announced that $1 million of the city's $2 million property payment would pay for amenities to Broadway, Mayor Harry Rediger said Thursday that the other million would go for several projects.

As part of the development deal approved by the Cape Girardeau City Council on Tuesday, Isle of Capri LLC would pay the city $2 million for 11 acres it owns on the proposed site on North Main Street.

Those possibilities for the other $1 million include a splash pad at Capaha Park, bike trails, a pedestrian bridge and city museum enhancements, Rediger said.

"We want the money to be spent on capital improvements, No. 1," Rediger said. "We want these projects to touch as many citizens as we can, not just one segment of the population."

While the city staff is still looking at several projects, possibilities include a splash pad at Capaha Park that would be similar to a part of Cape Splash water park on North Kingshighway. A splash pad is an area for playing in water that has no standing water, eliminating the need for lifeguards, Rediger said.

Another option the city is looking at is a bike trail and trail enhancements, such as painting stripes for a bicycle path on wider streets like Lexington Avenue and Independence Street. A pedestrian bridge over Cape La Croix Creek in the area of Woodbine Place and Dogwood Drive is another possibility, he said. The Cape River Heritage Museum on Independence could also see some upgrades with a portion of the money, Rediger said.

"No decisions have been made," he said. "But we want to spend the other million on three or four projects. We're looking at all of them over the next 10 days or so. We're hoping to have something more concrete at the next council meeting or shortly thereafter."

The next city council meeting will be Sept. 21.

Rediger said there are some misconceptions floating around town, such as where the casino will be. It is proposed to be built on North Main Street near the intersection of Mill Street.

More specifics about the casino are shown in the city's development deal and with the public disclosure form that Isle of Capri recently filed with the Missouri Gaming Commission. The casino will include a two-story building of about 120,000 square feet with a floating gaming platform of about 40,000 square feet to initially include 1,000 slot machines and 20 gambling tables. A rooftop restaurant is also planned. Also, the casino will include five food and beverage venues, a 750-person conference and entertainment space, about 1,000 parking spaces and a building pad for a possible hotel.

According to the public disclosure form, the casino will draw a million visitors each year, though city officials have said not enough to create traffic problems. Still, Isle of Capri has commissioned a traffic study.

Isle of Capri projects monthly paid admissions to be 157,345 based on projected total annual admission revenue of $3.7 million. Annual gross gaming receipts are projected to be $79.4 million with an average adjusted gross receipts of $6.6 million a month.

Isle of Capri expects the total tax benefit to the city and county to be about $3 million annually and gaming taxes paid to the state are projected at $19 million in the first year of operations. These figures do not include the additional taxes generated by a payroll of as many as 450 workers.

Paul Heller, senior vice president and chief development officer with Isle of Capri, said he believes that the proposal fits in nicely with the long-range plans of Cape Girardeau and its downtown district.

"We're pleased with the design," Keller said. "We love it. We really did design it in a way that we think people will like, and we've gotten positive feedback."

smoyers@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

Main Street & Mill Street, Cape Girardeau MO