Burgess group gives up on housing development project on county-owned land

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. — The Farmington-based Burgess Development Group Inc. has announced that it is dropping plans to construct "an active lifestyle community for those who are 55 or better" on county-owned land adjacent to the City of Ste. Genevieve's business/industrial park.

The company had proposed constructing 30 units of the age-restricted housing on nine acres of land belonging to the Ste. Genevieve County Community Center. Presently the land is being used for soccer and football activities.

In April Burgess offered the county $20,000 per acre for the land, on which the firm planned to build 36 homes. In addition, the company agreed to make a donation of $30,000 to the county for improvements to the community center that the company believed would appeal to potential home buyers, such as tennis and handball courts. As part of the deal Burgess also said it would include membership in the community center as part of the purchase price of homes in the development.

In a press release dated June 4, Burgess Development President Bret Burgess said his firm had received notification of the appraisal of the nine acres Burgess wanted to buy. The appraisal price apparently was the deal-breaker.

"The commissioners advised us about the details and it was determined that the appraised value was significantly more than expected," Burgess said. "Our company was prepared to offer up to $25,000 per acre, but the appraised value of more than $32,000 per acre was not practical for residential development in today's slow housing market."

In the press release Burgess said he "extended sincere appreciation to the Ste. Genevieve County Commissioners and the Ste. Genevieve County Community Center Board for their willingness to talk with our company about the sale of the property."

The firm began public discussion the proposed development early this year. Originally, the firm hoped to buy about 60 acres of land in the northeast portion of the business/industrial park site, where about 300 homes eventually would be constructed. In April Burgess announced that the available city land was unsuitable for development. The project was reconfigured and scaled down to make construction on the community center land feasible.

Earlier this spring Burgess said if the land owned by the county could not be purchased his firm was unlikely to try to pursue the housing project here. He added that land has been proffered by the City of Perryville.

Holcim says eastern Missouri cement plant is on track

BLOOMSDALE, Mo. — Construction of one of the country's largest cement plants is on track for its scheduled completion next year in Ste. Genevieve County.

The plant must still resolve the issue of what company will provide its electricity.

Switzerland-based Holcim Ltd. is building the almost $1 billion facility. It falls within the territory of Citizens Electric Cooperative. But Holcim would prefer to be an Ameren customer, which would allow lower rates.

Plant officials say it will employ 250 workers and produce about 4 million metric tons of cement each year. It will become the second Holcim plant in Missouri. The other facility is in Pike County.

Chamber offers digital job search

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — Entering the job market is a whole new rat race today with search engines available through the World Wide Web like CareerBuilder and Monster Jobs.

Steve Halter, president of the Greater Poplar Bluff Area Chamber of Commerce, has announced that the chamber has gone digital in terms of networking, offering a new local job feature on its Web site free for members to post employment opportunities, and Poplar Bluff residents to upload their resumes.

"There are not a lot of chambers of our size offering services like this," said Halter. "We live in a technology savvy world where people have a new way of getting jobs and we're just trying to do what we can to match the supply with the demand."

If the more than 700 businesses that are chamber members take advantage of the service, Halter added, he believes it can help lure in potential new citizens and possibly industries looking to determine a city to relocate to.

The interactive tool allows employers to search resumes and contact the job seeker with a click of a button. Job seekers can search for jobs and apply directly from the site, once they register.

Members who want to post a job listing must contact the chamber to get an access code in order to use the system. People looking for jobs do not need an access code, Halter explained.

Breadeaux Pizza was one of the first businesses to post an opening on the Web site. Charlie Cooper, the general manager, said she advertises for jobs in the newspaper and on the reader board outside of the South Westwood Boulevard restaurant, and she thinks this will just be one more outlet for local businesses to get the word out efficiently.

The local jobs link can be found on the chamber's home page: www.poplarbluffchamber.org.

Broadway plans

Stacy Langston has big plans for a building he purchased recently that encompasses 723, 725 and 727 Broadway. The storefront at 727 Broadway is currently home to Let It Grow hydroponics, and when that store moves, the three storefronts will become a bar and music venue at 723, BNL Concrete Design at 725 and a barbecue restaurant to be known as Pauli's Pit Stop at 727.

Langston parlayed his experience in construction into the decorative concrete business about two years ago. The BNL Concrete Design storefront will be a 7,500 square-foot showroom for his work. The "B" in BNL is Steve Bell, a partner who is finishing a stint as an active-duty recruiter for the National Guard.

Langston said he's making a bet that Broadway is the place to nurture and grow his businesses. "We found a building and we like the historic part of Broadway," he said. "And we like the challenge of renovating."

Workforce training program focuses on keeping jobs in Southeast Missouri

Mike Seabaugh, a member of the Workforce Investment Board, told the Bootheel Regional Planning and Development Commission (BRPC) that Southeast Missouri has lost 2,400 manufacturing jobs in recent years and he was helping coordinate an effort to combat this problem. His comments came at the regular meeting of the Commission held June 19.

Seabaugh said that the emphasis of workforce training is shifting from training people who are unemployed or underemployed, to trying to keep important jobs that are already in the Bootheel. He is the business resource coordinator for the Business Resource Network which serves 13 area counties. These counties make up both the Bootheel Planning and Development Commission and the Southeast Missouri Planning and Development Commission.

"Our real customer is business," Seabaugh said, "The trainee is our product."

Seabaugh told commissioners about the Business Survey System. The system was bought by Ameren UE, but the Workforce Investment Board has contracted with Ameren UE to use the system to help communities stop the loss of business and industry that has been occurring. It is called the Business Retention and Expansion Program. In this program, the retention coordinator "assembles and leads a team of community experts who target at-risk companies, develop strategies for layoff intervention and leverage resources to save jobs."

The five communities he works with are Dexter, Caruthersville, Jackson, Cape Girardeau and Sikeston. He noted that Cape and Sikeston were just coming into the program.

Cardiovascular Consultants to purchase K's Merchandise building

Vacant since the company closed its doors early last year, the former K's Merchandise building is one step closer to having a new tenant.

Cardiovascular Consultants of Cape Girardeau is expected to finalize in July its purchase of the 98,121-square-foot building, the largest structure in the region for sale on the commercial market. The medical business, made up of eight physicians, has outgrown its present location at 25 Doctor's Park and will occupy the seven-acre property.

Details on what Cardiovascular Consultants plans to do with the property have not been finalized.

The sale price was listed at $2.1 million on the Web site of Lorimont Place Ltd., which is the exclusive listing broker for the transaction.

Grant will allow expansion of Summer Bay

FARMINGTON, Mo. — The plan to open a Summer Bay reservation center on the north edge of Farmington moved one step closer with the announcement by Gov. Matt Blunt that he had approved a $201,000 Community Development Block Grant to be used for infrastructure improvements.

City Administrator Greg Beavers told the council in late April the city had been talking with representatives of Scott Properties, owned by Joe H. Scott Sr., about annexing an area just east of U.S. 67 which includes Crown Equipment and several other buildings. The goal was to open a reservation center for Scott Properties' Summer Bay resorts.

The roughly 19 acres would take in an a block of land reaching from U.S. 67 east to Eagle Lake Golf Course and just to the north. Beavers explained that Scott intended to locate a reservations call center within the boundaries of the proposed annexation which could eventually employ more than 100 people — that in addition to those already employed by the equipment company, golf course and neighboring hotels.

It's estimated the project should net about $1,800 in annual property taxes and roughly $45,000 to $50,000 in sales tax revenue. Adding water and sewer lines and a sewer lift station to service the area is estimated to cost about $413,000. Beavers said a Community Development Block Grant would pay for $235,000 of that cost — leaving the city to pay $178,000 for the improvements. With an estimated increase of $50,000 in incoming tax revenue from the annexed area, the improvements would be paid for in less than four years. That doesn't include taxes from additional retail growth within the annexed area, keeping in mind that the infrastructure improvements would then be in place for future growth unrelated to the Scott projects.

In the governor's statement he reiterated that Summer Bay Sales and Marketing would create at least $575,900 in private investment and 22 new, full-time jobs within two years.

Development of the Summer Bay project opens more potential for annexation and infrastructure support of properties on the city's north edge.