SOUTHEASTHEALTH JOINS MERCY

SoutheastHEALTH leaders announced on Aug. 1 an official partnership with St. Louis-based Mercy, affiliating Southeast with one of the nation’s largest health care systems.

Mercy, an $8 billion organization, operates nearly 50 health care systems with 1,500 clinics and more than 40,000 employees across seven southern states.

SoutheastHEALTH will be renamed, most likely as Mercy Southeast. A new IT system and medical records system to facilitate easier communication between patients and physicians is on the horizon.

ALDI STORES TO OPEN IN JACKSON, PERRYVILLE

ALDI USA is planning to open two stores in the tri-county area soon. One location, at 2502 E. Jackson Blvd. in Jackson, is due to open tentatively Nov. 8; another at 300 N. Perryville Blvd. in Perryville is expected to debut before the end of the year. General contractor for Jackson is Knoebel Construction of Chesterfield, Missouri, while St. Louis’s G.I. Construction fulfills the same function for the Perryville outlet. ALDI has more than 2,000 stores in 36 states, including 86 in Missouri. Existing area ALDI locations for the discount grocery retailer are in Cape Girardeau, Sikeston and Poplar Bluff, Missouri.

NEW RHODES STORE IN CAPE GIRARDEAU

PAJCO Holdings is building its 31st Rhodes convenience store and its eighth in Cape Girardeau.

The site for the 5,000-square-foot outlet is 2146 William St.

The site has seen many businesses come and go since Ponderosa Steakhouse was first opened at the location in 1973.

RESTAURANT APPROVALS

Nine restaurants and food trucks were approved in September by the Cape Girardeau County Health Department: Izakaya Yuzu, Turk Dawgs food truck, Armstrong Outdoors bar, Serve trailer, Southern Style Cooking on Wheels, Broadway Bistro, Green's Garden, Houck Stadium concessions and Marble Hill Cakes. Additionally, the department reported 62 food stands operated at the 2023 SEMO District Fair from Sept. 9 through 16, and 157 inspections and spot-checks were conducted at the fair site in Arena Park.

FORMER AUTO DEALERSHIP VENUE SELLS IN JACKSON

The former Ford Groves dealership property at 825 E. Jackson Blvd. in Jackson sold Aug. 31 to an investment buyer planning to use it as a leased location, according to Lorimont Commercial Real Estate's Tom Kelsey. No sales price was disclosed for the transaction, but the asking price for the 3,224-square-foot building was $525,000. Lorimont has also listed for sale Ford Groves' property at 1501 N. Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau, which remains open while a new site for the business is sought. Ford Groves recently sold to Andy Patel and Bob Neff, who rebranded the parent company in July as Blue Oval Auto Group. Neff told the Southeast Missourian the 109-year-old Ford Groves is one of the 20 oldest Ford dealerships in the United States.

MORTGAGE RATE SURGE HIGHEST IN TWO DECADES

Mortgage rates rose to their highest level in 21 years in mid-August, according to Freddie Mac, also known as Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. Thirty-year fixed rate mortgages averaged 7.09%, up from 6.96% a week earlier — the highest the rate has been since April 2002, when it was 7.12%. Mortgage rates have been on the increase since the Federal Reserve began its historic rise in interest rates in an effort to wrestle inflation to a maximum 2% level.

“This is a difficult housing market,” said Terry Baker, association executive for Southeast Missouri Realtors. Buying a home is now appreciably more expensive because of the added cost to financing a mortgage.

PHONE APP MATCHING AREA EMPLOYERS WITH WORKERS

Perryville companies Gilster-Mary Lee and TG Missouri are using a new phone app called Veryable to help fill gaps in the labor pool by matching skilled workers with those employers. The Dallas-based app is available on Google Play or Apple Play.

MISSOURI ATTORNEY GENERAL SUES DISCOUNT RETAILER

Dollar General was sued Sept. 13, by state Attorney General Andrew Bailey, who claims hundreds of its retail outlets in Missouri offer "unfair and deceptive pricing." The civil case filed in St. Louis Circuit Court alleges prices on Dollar General's shelves were less than amounts charged at checkout with 92 of 147 locations in Missouri having failed an inspection by Bailey's office and U.S. Department of Agriculture's Weights and Measures Division.

ELECTRIC UTILITY CUSTOMERS SEEING LOWER BILLS

Ameren Missouri residential customers began to see lower electric bills effective Oct. 1 because of action by Missouri Public Service Commission. MPSC approved a filing made by Ameren to adjust the fuel adjustment charge (FAC) on customer bills. FAC dropped approximately $2.17 per month from $5.26 to $3.09 for a customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity. The utility provides electric service to approximately 1.2 million customers.

LOCAL CASINO NAMES RAMIREZ

Loren Ramirez has been named manager of the new $26 million Century Casino hotel in Cape Girardeau, due to open in the first half of 2024. Before assuming his current position in late August, Ramirez worked in management for Drury Hotels for the past eight years.

AREA RED CROSS WELCOMES SULLIVAN

Micheal Sullivan is the new executive director of Cape Girardeau-based American Red Cross of Southeast Missouri & Northeast Arkansas (SEMO NEAR). Sullivan, a Doniphan, Missouri, native, comes to Red Cross after serving for nine years as executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Jonesboro, Arkansas.

KAISER JOINS CAPE CHAMBER

Shelly Kaiser joined Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce effective Monday, Sept. 18, as membership engagement specialist, replacing Kelsie Turner, who is relocating. Kaiser most recently served as retail and membership director for the City of Jackson and Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce. Before her work in Jackson, Kaiser worked for many years in banking and lending for Alliance Bank and First Midwest Bank.

WATSON NAMED TO STATE TRANSIT BOARD

Kelley Watson of Cape Girardeau County Transit Authority (CTA) was elected in September to the board of directors of Missouri Public Transit Authority. Watson is CTA’s accounting manager and has been on the authority’s leadership team for more than a decade.

JACKSON’S GERAU NAMED TO STATE PANEL

Brian Gerau, executive director of Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce, has been appointed vice chair of Missouri Agriculture and Small Business Development Authority.

Gerau is one of seven authority commissioners named by Gov. Mike Parson. The panel’s role is to make capital available to Missouri farmers, particularly independent producers, agribusinesses and small businesses through grants, loans and tax credits.

POPULAR EATERY TO REOPEN IN JACKSON

Mario’s Italian Eatery will open what the Grippo family is calling a “small” restaurant in Jackson this fall, at a location to be named later and specializing primarily in takeout orders. In 2021, the Grippos closed Mario & Angela’s Italian Cucina at 1740 Broadway in Cape Girardeau, citing an inability to find employees to work post-COVID-19. The previous restaurant had been open for seven years before being shuttered.

RUGGIERI OPENS NEW DOWNTOWN EATERY

Gabriele Ruggieri, proprietor of Speck Pizza + Street Food in Cape Girardeau, formally opened another Italian-themed restaurant, Pasta + Sauce, at 127 N. Main, also in Cape, on Monday, Oct. 2. Ruggieri operated Gabriel’s Food + Wine at the same location for six years.