Playhouse planning move to downtown

The Discovery Playhouse in West Park Mall may soon be moving to a downtown location.

Martha Brown, who sits on the Playhouse's board of directors, said the organization, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit, has signed a lease agreement to move into the old Goddard Grocer Co. building at 101 William St. in Cape Girardeau.

The lease is contingent on the Playhouse receiving approval from the state to offer tax credits to donors who help pay for the 84-year-old building's renovation. Missouri's Neighborhood Assistance Program offers 50 percent tax credits for donations to certain community organizations. The Neighborhood Assistance Program should make a decision on the tax credits in a matter of weeks, Brown said.

All involved hope Cape Girardeau's involvement in Gov. Matt Blunt's DREAM Initiative for downtown revitalization will help the project get a leg up in receiving the tax credits. Brown says she has multiple donors lined up who are waiting to hear about the tax credits before opening their wallets.

If all goes quickly, Brown said, the children's museum could open its doors at the downtown location in July.

The building will require an estimated $280,000 in work to put on a new roof, add bathrooms, heating and air and a sprinkler system. The Playhouse will initially move into a 6,500-square-foot ground-floor space but has received assurances from owners John and Jerri Wyman that it can expand as needed in the 12,000-square-foot building.

"We think this will be just a fantastic facility," Brown said. "They've got the nice tall ceilings, with the exposed wood beams. It just has a lot of character. It would be basically just a big open space other than the one room that we would have for birthday parties and class functions."

The Playhouse opened its doors at the mall in June. It has a miniature doctor's office and anatomical learning mannequins donated by Saint Francis Medical Center and a mini-supermarket complete with checkout counter and carts donated by Schnucks.

Brown said the learning center is not a "drop-off place"; instead it's designed for parents and children to participate together. It goes to great lengths to make all the exhibits accessible and "kid-sized."

"It's a place where kids can learn how to figure things out and that gets them interested and wanting to learn more about how things work. It gets them interested in science and just generally learning," she said.

The mission of the playhouse fits in with the goals of the Neighborhood Assistance Program, said Terri Foley, an area historic preservation consultant.

Brown said the Playhouse needs more room than the 1,400-square-foot mall space can offer. At the new downtown location, other exhibits may include a mini-ATM machine to be donated by a local bank, a mini-fire station with a pole and a mini-construction site with tools and cranes.

"We'd love to be able to do a whole kid-sized village," Brown said.

John Wyman, who owns the building at 101 William St., is excited by all the "synergies" the Playhouse would bring to that area of downtown.

Five years ago, he said, downtown had no tourist destinations. But now with the updated floodwall murals, the Red House Interpretive Center, the B'Nai Israel Synagogue opening in the fall as a heritage museum and Old St. Vincent's Church attracting tourists, the downtown is coming back.

"This is exactly what the area needs," he said.

Brown agrees. "A children's museum would be a destination place, so it would bring families from the whole region to downtown Cape Girardeau. They would shop and eat downtown, go through the Red House, look at the murals. The whole area would benefit," she said.

tgreaney@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245