$6 million renovation well underway

By Jim Obert

Business Today

The 21-year ordeal to find a use for the six-story, Spanish-style hotel in downtown Cape Girardeau officially ended in August 2002 when owner Ruby Bullock signed over the deed to Prost Builders Inc. of Jefferson City.

The company paid $350,000 for the building.

Approximately 100 state employees will work in offices on three floors of the building. The state will pay Prost $2.39 million to lease the offices for 10 years. The other half of the space will be leased to retail businesses and to other offices.

Real estate agent Thomas M. Meyer, who handled the sale, said restaurants and other businesses have inquired about renting space. He said there are plans to add a seventh story to the building, which could be used for a restaurant or a penthouse.

When it opened in 1928, the hotel at Broadway and Fountain Street was touted as the finest between St. Louis and Memphis. But it fell into disrepair and had been vacant for more than two decades.

The city condemned the hotel in 2000 and in January 2001 gave Bullock two months to sell the building, renovate it or see it demolished. A series of deadline extensions followed as Bullock was unable to find a buyer and the city could not afford the $1 million cost of razing the structure.

Southeast Missouri State University historic preservation students Jeremy Wells and Robin Seiler, meanwhile, got the building put on the National Register of Historic Places. That was a factor in Prost Builders choosing the building when the company started looking in Cape Girardeau.

A December 2001 executive order signed by Gov. Bob Holden requiring the state's facilities managers to lease space in central downtown districts raised the Marquette's stock. The state already had a policy of renting space in historic buildings.

The project qualifies as a "brownfield site," an EPA designation for contaminated or polluted redevelopment property. Prost will get tax credits for removing the asbestos and other contaminants.

Now that workers have finished removing asbestos from the Marquette, unnecessary walls and entire sections of the building are being torn down to open up floor space. The hotel is under going brick and mortar repair, and construction of two exterior stairwells and an exterior elevator. A large cinderblock wall running through the center of the building will protect it from earthquakes.

The brick on the exterior has been cleaned, revealing colorful patterns and mosaics scattered about the facade.

Bill Whitlow, project manager for Prost Builders, said the hotel had about 100 rooms in its heyday.

"We've removed the original metal window frames, and the ones that faced Broadway and Fountain streets are being cleaned at Schenel Co. in Perryville," said Whitlow. "We'll put those window frames back in to keep things as historical as possible."

Whitlow said there are about 25 workers at the site during a typical work day, but that number will jump when installation of electrical and plumbing begins, and construction of office and retail spaces gets underway. Whitlow said the majority of workers are hired locally. Others are brought in from outside the area if specialty work is required.

Meyer said the building is being smart-wired. "We'll make it as high tech as possible.

"This whole downtown area will be a hotbed of activity with the media buildings nearby and the federal offices across the street."