CITY'S OSAGE CENTRE TO OPEN APRIL 15

City officials plan to cut the ribbon and officially open the Osage Community Centre at 4:30 p.m. April 15. Half an hour later the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce plans to host the center's first event: Business After Hours.

The building at Kingshighway and Mount Auburn Road is nearly finished. The walls are painted, rugs cover the meeting room floors, the ceilings are in and electrical outlets are wired and covered. All that remains is installation of tile on the main floor and a few exit signs, and that should be finished by the end of next week, said Dan Muser, director of the city's Parks and Recreation Department.

Last Thursday workers tested the sound system.

Penny Blandford, the recreation supervisor in charge of the Osage Centre, doesn't know exactly when the floor will be finished and all the equipment set up. As a result, some of the festivities for Southeast Missouri State University President Dale Nitzschke's inauguration that had been planned for the Osage Centre April 8 have been moved elsewhere.

Blandford said the department couldn't guarantee the university there would be no signs of on-going construction by that date.

The basketball and volleyball leagues playing in rented gyms at local churches and schools will finish their seasons there, Blandford said. Because of the growing demand for leagues, the city probably always will have to rent some space to accommodate them all, Muser said.

Plans call for a high-school volleyball league this summer plus fitness, baton and cheerleading classes, Blandford said.

Blandford is in the process of ordering the furniture, the exercise equipment, the portable basketball goals and volleyball nets.

The main purpose of the $2.5 million center is to accommodate events too large for the A.C. Brase Arena and too small for the Show Me Center, said Jay Knudtson, chairman of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and president of the Parks Foundation.

The main area is large enough to accommodate two full-sized basketball courts, Knudtson said. It can seat up to 1,800 people at once.

The city plans to rent out the main floor for events like conventions, craft shows or auto shows, Knudtson said. However, the center will not have 1,800 chairs quite yet, Muser said. If someone rents the hall for an 1,800-person affair, the city will borrow chairs from other facilities, he said.

"I don't have enough money allocated to buy it all in one fell swoop," Muser said.

The facility includes two smaller meeting rooms on one side with a fitness room and a classroom on the other.

The department plans to order chairs, tables and exercise equipment out of operating funds over the next few years, Muser said. Although dictated by financial necessity, it will allow the department to better gauge its purchases to its needs, Muser said.

Groups can rent the hall for private events like Business After Hours, which is for chamber members and their guests only, or for public meetings.

Every weekend in December is already booked for office Christmas parties.