The Cape Girardeau City Council should approve tax-increment financing (TIF) to redevelop the vacant Esquire Theater for use as a concert and event venue, the city's TIF Commission concluded Thursday.

The 11 commissioners unanimously approved the recommendation, setting the stage for the council to take final action on the proposal.

"It is a wonderful project," commission chairman Al Spradling III said after the commission's recommendation.

Without such financing, the vacant, deteriorating structure at 824 Broadway likely would be torn down eventually for a parking lot, Spradling said.

Commissioners acted following a brief public hearing at which the only comments came from Mark Spykerman, an attorney with the Gilmore and Bell law firm that specializes in public finance law. The city hired the law firm to do a cost-benefit analysis.

Spykerman told commission members the plan calls for tax-increment funding of $870,000 plus interest.

While most of the $2.65 million project will be funded privately, the project is not feasible without tax-increment financing, according to the cost-benefit analysis.

The developer has said TIF financing would be crucial in securing a bank loan for the project.

A TIF, as spelled out in state law, allows a developer to receive the increment gained in property taxes between the current value and improved value, and 50 percent of the sales tax revenue generated above the base year level for up to 23 years.

After the meeting at the Osage Centre, Spradling said commissioners had discussed the TIF proposal at a May meeting and nothing else needed to be said.

At the May meeting, Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce president and commission member John Mehner had pointed out the proposal was a "textbook example" of the type of project that warrants such financing.

The building is generating barely more than $1,000 a year in property taxes and nothing in sales taxes. The redevelopment project is expected to generate sales tax revenue and increased property taxes for the city and other taxing jurisdictions, Mehner said at the May session.

TAG (Together Always Giving) Development and Cape Theaters LLC proposed the redevelopment project.

Developer Cara Naeger of Bloomsdale, Missouri, told the commission in May her development group wants to buy both the Esquire and the nearby, vacant Broadway Theatre. The proposed project deals only with the Esquire Theater, she said at the earlier meeting.

Constructed in 1947, the Esquire operated as a movie theater until 1985. A handful of churches and businesses rented the building from time to time after 1985, but a report prepared by Gilmore and Bell said the structure "has generally been vacant for many years and is currently very dilapidated."

Water damage has destroyed much of the inside of the structure.

But the development group of Naeger and her two brothers believe the structure with its art-deco facade can once again shine on Broadway.

They want to redevelop the building to serve as a venue for concerts, weddings, conferences and other events.

Members of the development group, including Naeger, attended Thursday's commission meeting, but did not address the commissioners.

However, in a recent interview with B Magazine, Naeger said, "We see a lot of potential for what the Esquire can be, to bring some life to that end of the street."

She said, "We want to make it a viable building, where people can really enjoy the experience and the memories."

Redevelopment would include removing an interior wall and creating a "grand space that you can see as soon as you enter the building," she said.

The facility would have two bars and restrooms would be added. "You can go upstairs to the mezzanine, a kind of private VIP lounge, which used to be the projection room. And in front of you, you'll have this nice stage with the Esquire logos on each side," she said.

Esquire's floor would be tiered into platforms, with "the lowest tier like the standing room next to the band," said Naeger, adding the space will have flexible seating to accommodate a variety of events.

The proposal calls for construction to be completed by late 2019.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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