DOWNTOWN PROPERTY OWNERS AWAIT ELECTION

Riverboat gambling has been a factor -- at least downtown -- in the equation that has increased residential and commercial real-estate prices well over 8 percent in the last year.

"I think people are hoping the riverboat might increase the value of their property," said Marta Green, an agent with Classic Real Estate Ltd.

The state's voters will go to the polls a week from Tuesday to decide whether to allow slot machines and roulette on riverboats.

The Boyd Gaming Corp., which has announced plans for a $51 million development on the Cape Girardeau riverfront, has put those plans on hold until the vote.

Boyd Gaming has been responsible for most of the property exchanges that have occurred recently downtown. All but the paperwork is complete to make the Las Vegas-based company owner of the old Buckner-Ragsdale Building at the southeast corner of Broadway and Main, and the parking lot on the northeast corner, according to Evelyn Boardman, the company's local representative.

Except for a piece of land called the Walker parcel, the company owns the entire eastern side of Main Street from Broadway to the old International Shoe Co. site near Mill Street, she said.

To the west, Boyd Gaming owns property at 535 N. Main, 231 N. Main through to Spanish Street (the former Social Security Building), and 201 and 203 Spanish St., formerly Timberwolf Productions, Boardman said.

Downtown property-owners hoping to cash in if Boyd Gaming puts a boat on the Mississippi may be partly responsible for the shortage of houses and commercial properties for sale.

"They're sitting tight," said real-estate company owner Thomas Meyer, who said only one downtown property is available right now.

The vacant former J.C. Penney Building at 5 N. Main St. was sold within the past month. Meyer, who handled the sale, said he wants to allow the undisclosed buyer to announce the plans for the building.

He doesn't think much speculation has occurred because of riverboat gambling and doesn't expect downtown property values to change if voters approve the gambling measure.

"Values aren't going to improve, it's the lack of availability," he said. "There will be no property available on Main Street."

Green agrees that downtown residential landowners aren't going to benefit if the gambling boat comes because parking will need to be created.

"If they buy several residential properties and tear them down, that's not going to increase property values," she said.

Meyer said interest in downtown real estate picked up once Boyd Gaming and Lady Luck began campaigning for the Cape Girardeau gambling license.

When the court ruling limited the gambling boats to games of skill, interest slacked off, Meyer said.

With the upcoming vote, downtown landowners "are sitting tight," Meyer said.

If the gambling issue fails, he said, "Then we're back to square one."