City of Cape works to sell remainder of business park

Cape Girardeau City Council members on Monday unanimously approved the next step in selling the remaining portion of the Greater Cape Girardeau Business Park.

The city is working to sell the remaining portion of the park to Touchdown Developer Group LLC. The sale requires an ordinance granting Mayor Stacy Kinder the ability to execute a special warranty deed to the developer. The ordinance's first reading was approved by council members and will appear on the next council meeting's agenda for second and third readings.

City manager Kenneth Haskin said at the meeting that Touchdown has plans to do a mix of commercial and residential development at the park.

"We are excited about the development plans and anticipate the property becoming more of a performing asset rather than financial liability," Haskin said in a news release.

The actual development plan and sale price for the park will be private until the sale is made final in the next few months.

The $6 million, 247-acre piece of land located at Interstate 55 and LaSalle Avenue was first purchased by the city from the Southeast Missouri University Foundation in 2012. The down payment on the land was made with funds from the Greater Cape Girardeau Benevolent Association's sale of property at the Nash Road Industrial Park. The remaining payments would be paid out the next 12 years using casino funds. The city has a remaining balance of $1.8 million in the promissory note, according to the meeting agenda.

Since 2012, the city had sold just 44 acres, with the most recent sale of 12 acres coming in 2017 to Drury Development Corp.

City officials had mulled over the idea of using an influx of funds to get sites at the park shovel ready — leveling the ground, extending roadways and establishing utilities — for businesses. Haskin said in a June City Council workshop that the $1.2 million allocated to get the business park ready was "not nearly enough."

The park not being ready for businesses to move in pushed prospects elsewhere.

"They're (prospective businesses) like, 'a lot of stuff has to be done,' and then they go down to Sikeston [Missouri] and see a flat, shovel-ready site. The decision is pretty much made," deputy city manager Molly Mehner said in an interview with the Southeast Missourian in June.

Capital north of $6 million would likely be needed to get the park shovel-ready. There was hope for city officials on using grant funds to help pay for the development, but the U.S. Economic Development Administration said the lack of existing development made the park a weak candidate for grants, according to the release.

"After a thorough cost-benefit review, it has been determined that this is in the city's best interest," Haskin said of the sale in the release. "The park is way too expensive for the city to develop on its own. Selling the property to a private developer makes good business sense."

Without the sale, the city would be on the hook for $480,000 in annual debt payments.

"The intent from the beginning was to acquire land for development purposes. Partnering with a developer achieves that goal without the debt," Haskin said.