The committee tasked with prioritizing a list of facilities to be funded by Cape Girardeau's restaurant and hotel/motel taxes officially voted Thursday afternoon to recommend an indoor sports complex.

The City of Cape Girardeau/Midamerica Hotels Corp. Feasibility Study joint committee has worked with city officials and consultants for the past seven months to review four options: an indoor aquatics facility, an agriculture expo center, an indoor sports complex and combined hotel and convention center.

According to an agreement between city leaders and Midamerica Hotels executives, the six-person panel was tasked to make a recommendation based on each option's ability to boost the city's economy -- particularly hotel stays and restaurant spending. The final decision to move forward with the proposal and determine details such as its location rest with the Cape Girardeau City Council.

While the committee has leaned toward the sports complex as priority No. 1 in its past few meetings, it continued to debate how the other projects should be ranked. This could be important, because any funds left after the first project is finished could be used for a second project on the list.

The group unanimously decided to table the aquatics center proposal, with some claiming it might be revisited with funds from the parks and stormwater tax, especially if outside aquatics groups were interested in sharing responsibilities.

Deciding on the ag expo and convention center proved to be more difficult. Members had shown interest in both projects after learning more from consultants about their possible economic effects, but still were left with questions.

Issues with the ag expo primarily centered around cost -- the consultants pegged a $16.5 million price on their proposal -- and whether the facility would poach events from the Show Me Center. Committee member Joel Neikirk said he believed the idea had merit and questioned whether a "scaled back version" could be feasible. Julia Thompson, the project facilitator, said since the facility would be built at Arena Park, where there are existing infrastructure and events hosted in the area, and an enclosed ag expo center with concessions could be beneficial to the city.

Thompson also said Pete Poe of the SEMO District Fair Board expressed willingness to explore the project and its costs to create a plan and possibly find contributing funds from other sources.

The appeal of the combined hotel and convention center was its potential to increase hotel stays in the area. But Neikirk said he had doubts about the accuracy of data provided by consultants. They didn't talk to stakeholders in the area like the other consulting firm did for the other three projects, and he thought their proposal comparing Cape Girardeau to larger cities across the state was inaccurate.

Ultimately, the group decided it did not have sufficient data to rank the two remaining projects and voted only to recommend to council to move forward with the sports complex. If the council accepts that proposal and funds remain after the facility is up and running, the group would be asked to reconvene to recommend a second project.

Some council members expressed skepticism whether any funds would remain. The consultants' proposal for a 120,000-square-foot sports complex featuring six basketball courts that could serve as 12 volleyball courts, a large turf surface that could be divided into two or three fields, an elevated walking track, batting cages, golf cages, locker rooms and a concessions area was $19.8 million. Consultants estimated the facility could reach 100 percent cost recovery by its third year of operation and said it could bring in an annual 2,700 hotel nights and have a $170,000 positive effect on restaurant revenue.

The committee said it believed the building cost could be cut nearly in half by making adjustments, including renovating an existing building to use as the sports complex. This information, as well as a presentation from the consultants, will be delivered to the council at its Nov. 17 meeting.

srinehart@semissourian.com

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