Cape County commission to open courthouse study proposals Monday

The Cape Girardeau County Commission is expected to open proposals for a study of the county's courthouses and administrative offices at its regular meeting Monday.

The commission is gathering information it will use to decide if a purchase of the federal building is needed, and what may be required for a county courthouse consolidation.

The county's deadline for architectural firms to submit sealed proposals mapping out current and future needs at the Common Pleas Courthouse in Cape Girardeau and the county courthouse in Jackson is 9:15 a.m. Monday. The proposals are for a project to study the county's administrative and court operations, which are currently spread among three buildings: the county courthouse and administrative building, both in Jackson, and Cape Girardeau's Common Pleas Courthouse. Building a new consolidated courthouse to replace those and how the former federal building could serve as a stopgap measure until a new courthouse is built have been talked about as potential areas of study.

Cape Girardeau County Courthouse in Jackson, Mo. (Fred Lynch)

The proposals will be opened Monday during the regular commission meeting, but no details contained in the proposals will be released, according to Commissioner Paul Koeper. Names of firms who submitted proposals will be read, however. Commissioners will then take three to four weeks to evaluate the proposals and qualifications of firms before taking any action to negotiate a contract for services, Koeper said.

The commission recently passed on the former federal building owner's asking price of $525,000. RDRH Holdings Inc. president Majid Hemmasi, who owns the downtown Cape Girardeau property, said at the time that the county's decision prompted him to put the 45-year-old building back on the market with an asking price of $1 million, which is almost $675,000 more than he paid for it.

Cape Girardeau real estate broker Thomas M. Meyer, who was hired by Hemmasi to handle the sale, said he is comfortable with the asking price, and was impressed at the quality of the building and how well preserved it is.

"This kind of quality in a structure of this kind would be expensive to build today. The price is absolutely warranted," Meyer said. "I was amazed from the first time I took a tour of the building. There's a lot to like about it."

Cape Girardeau County Commissioner Clint Tracy has previously explained that the commissioners postponed their decision on the federal building until an architect weighs in on whether it would make sense to include it as part of the county's long-range plans to build a consolidated courthouse to replace courthouses in Cape Girardeau and Jackson.

Meyer said there haven't been any bids on the federal building since the price change, but he has only just begun the marketing process.

"The marketing usually takes 30 days or so before you start to see results, and we're just a few days into that. And because that section of Broadway is now being finished and opened up, we can do more things like putting signs out in front and get the information out there more than before," said Meyer. "As far as the city and county, we just sent them letters last Monday indicating the new asking price and contact information. I can't tell you if they will put in a bid or not, but they now have what they need from us."

Staff writer Erin Ragan contributed to this report.

jsamons@semissourian.com

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