DEVELOPMENT AHEAD

A blueprint for a construction project provides a glimpse into the future. It shows people what the project will look like before it is done. The Lexington Avenue and North Sprigg Street extensions afford people an opportunity to envision a booming neighborhood in the not-so-distant future.

These street projects should open in by the end of August or first of September. The Sprigg extension is completed, but some work remains on the Lexington side.

No crystal ball needed here. Who owns the soon-to-be-accessible land provides the biggest pointer to development.

The Cape Girardeau School District bought 55 acres of land in 1963 in hopes of one day building a new school. That hope remains, and the land is conveniently located along the Sprigg extension.

The opening of the two streets also provides access to two parcels of park land donated by Richard Renfrow in 1987. Delaware Park is 18.2 acres of wooded land along Lexington. Casquin Park is 7.3 acres and can be found on the west side of the Sprigg extension near the school property.

The city itself joined looked to the future in 1990, when it bought property along what would become the Sprigg extension and earmarked it for a fire station. The price was cheaper because the land was undeveloped and inaccessible. It seems a wise move now. The fire station remains an unfunded project on the city's capital-improvement plan. It would replace the 1950-era Fire Station 3 on Emerald Street.

And as can be imagined, other land along the extensions has already been earmarked for housing development. The city has already approved plans for two subdivisions of $100,000-plus homes.

It isn't hard to imagine the development along these street extensions, given the ownership of the surrounding land.

The Lexington extension provides a glimpse of things to come as well. Since its completion from Perryville to Kingshighway several years ago, churches and expensive houses have popped up quickly. It has provided steady growth to the city's assessed valuation for tax purposes. There is no reason this new street project won't provide the same kind of boon.