COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY DOMINATES CAPE BUILDING

Commercial construction activity during the first five months has already surpassed the city's 1994 totals.

With 5 million-dollar-plus projects on the drawing boards, the city has issued building permits for more than $14.3 million for new commercial projects, surpassing the $13.1 million in 1994, when the city finished the year with its second highest ever in building permits, totaling more than $38.8 million.

The permit office has been a busy place during the first five months. It has issued 267 building permits, ranging from decks to signs, remodeling to expansion, home building to commercial structures.

All the activity translates into more than $25 million.

"We've experienced a steady growth over the past few years and we're off to a good start this year," said Rick Murray, building inspector and supervisor of Cape Girardeau Inspection Service.

The amount of commercial construction doesn't surprise Murray, but the timing does.

"I figured it would be later in the year before we reached these kind of numbers," Murray said. "The Cape Girardeau area is in a growth mode, and it's happening all over town."

Construction activity is visible everywhere.

The former Pagoda Gardens Restaurant building, most recently a fish restaurant, at Independence and Kingshighway, is being demolished to make room for a new Aldi's Grocery facility.

Structural steel is filling the skyline along the William Street perimeter of West Park Mall where two large projects are under way. Drury's Centre, a strip center at 3035 William, will house a 20,000-square-foot bookstore, Barnes and Noble, along with other smaller retailers.

A few blocks south, in the same area, at 3069 William, construction is under way on Auburn Park Place, a project of Drury Southwest, which will include restaurants, retail businesses and a parking garage. Work is currently under way on the first business, a Ruby Tuesday Restaurant.

Across William, groundwork is under way on a new Color Tile store, a 5,000-square-foot retail store at 3050 William.

Along the North Kingshighway area, framework is visible as construction is under way on a new McCombs Funeral Home, which is expected to open in late summer. The new facility is on Kurre Lane but is visible from the 1600 block of North Kingshighway.

Farther north, at 1702 N. Kingshighway, another new structure will house a doctor's office.

Two large entertainment centers have already opened on Commercial Street, just east of South Kingshighway. The Big River Grand Prix Go-Cart Track, owned and operated by Kerry Johnson, opened recently, along with a 12,000-square-foot skating rink owned by the Cape Family Entertainment Inc.

Construction continues on Saxony Village, an expansion of the Lutheran Nursing Home.

The $12.5 million expansion, which was announced in August, will include 18 duplex apartments, 40 assisted-living suites and an apartment complex with more than 100 apartments.

Two of the largest projects of 1995 will be a new St. Francis Medical Center parking garage and a Lutheran Home Saxony Village, an apartment complex. Each has been issued building permits of more than $4 million -- $4.585 million for the Lutheran Home and $4,170,200 for the parking garage.

Other million-dollar-plus projects include a new lobby area for Southeast Missouri Hospital, $2.7 million; Heritage Manor, a 44-unit, low-cost housing development to be constructed at Linden and South West End Boulevard; and a River Eagle Distributing warehouse, $1.4 million.

More than 100 of the building permits issued to date here are for commercial construction projects -- new buildings, expansions, renovations and remodeling.

Residential housing construction is down compared to a year ago, but permits have been issued for 21 new homes, in the amount of $2.8 million, an average of $133,000. Another big permit area is apartment buildings and duplex houses, where permits have been issued for 23 units, in the amount of $2.7 million.

Although new-home building is down, the forecast is good for the remainder of the summer.

Interest rates are cooperating with the summer home and commercial building season, which is usually a busy time of year.

Mortgage rates have fallen an average of 1.25 percent since January when they peaked at 9.25 for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage. For the potential home buyer, this means lower payments and increased buying power.

Based on a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, a home buyer who would qualify for $91,000 at 9 percent, would qualify for $100,000 at 8 percent.

The Cape Girardeau area has been on a fast track in the construction industry the past three years, and with five months down for 1995, it appears headed for another big year.

Ditto, the state.

Total construction activity in Missouri was up 15 percent for the first four months, according to F.W. Dodge Division of McGraw-Hill, an authority on the construction market.

Overall totals through April were $1.9 billion, compared to $1.7 billion a year ago. Nonresidential construction for the first four months was reported at $888 million, up 62 percent from the $548 million for the same period a year ago; residential construction was reported at $676 million, down 18 percent from the $828 million of 1994; and nonbuilding -- streets, bridges, dams -- was reported at $349 million, 21 percent more than the $288 million of a year ago.

BUILDING IN THE 1990s

(through June 1995)

1995 -- 21 new homes, $2,807, 000 (average, $133,500); apartment buildings or duplex houses (23 units), $2,721,000; commercial buildings $14,345,910; additions to residences and commercial buildings, $5,211,975. Total: $25,437,385.

1994 -- 105 new homes, $14, 303,002 (average, 136,000); apartment buildings or duplex houses (19 units), $3,153,000; commercial buildings $13,155,923; additions to residences and commercial buildings, $6,819,471. Total: $38,878,446.

1993 -- 103 new houses at a cost of $11,603,800 (average $112,658); Duplexes and apartment buildings (17 units), $2,116,000; Commercial buildings, $9,647,461; public buildings, $5,639,871; additions to residences and business buildings, and signs, $4.2 million. Total: $33,169,258.

1992 -- (record year): 89 new houses at a cost of $10,600,000 (average $120,000); nine apartment or duplex units, $879,000; additions to residences and business buildings, $7,300,000; commercial buildings, $29,217,699. Total: $47,996,699.

1991 -- 70 new houses at a cost of $8,080,000 (average $112,000); Two apartment units, $65,000; additions to residences and business buildings, $3,453,474; 110 commercial buildings, $20,221,179. Total: $31,704,468.

1990 - 82 new houses at a cost of $6,176,051 (average $75,300); 84 apartment units, $1,663,000; additions to residences, $345,131; 62 commercial buildings, 12,673,737; additions to commercial buildings, $3,523,291; public buildings, $1,091,000. Total: $25,626,901.

with construction if wanted

Building in 1995.

January: Single-family houses, 1 ($105,000); Two-family buildings, 3 ($294,000); Total building permits, 24 in amount of $554,690.

February: River Eagle Distributing Co. warehouse, $1.4 million; McCombs Funeral Home, $739,946; single-family houses, 6 ($637,000. Total building permits, 72 in the amount of $3,426,096.

March: Lutheran Home, $4,585,000; Southeast Missouri Hospital lobby project, $2,721,913; 4 single-family homes ($858,000); 4 two-family buildings ($551,000), 8 commercial building expansions and renovations, $3,509,178. Total building permits, 54 in the amount of $10,156,000.

April: Drury Centre, $750,000; Big River Go-Cart Track, $375,000; Color Tile, $175,000; single-family houses, 3 ($275,000); two-family building, $190,000; total building permits, 44 in the amount of $2,437,466.

May: St. Francis Medical Center parking garage, $4,170,200; Ruby Tuesday Restaurant, $500,000; Heritage Manor, 44-unit, low-cost housing complex $1,542,500; 14 commercial renovations and expansion, $648,050; medical care office building, $189,000; 4 single-family houses ($595,000); total building permits, 63 in the amount of $8,024,325.

June: Total building permits, 10, in the amount of $838,000, including a doctor's office building, $250,000; Tipton Linen & Uniform Service expansion, $125,000; 3 business expansions an/or renovations and 3 single-family homes..