University Toying With Landmark A Foregone Conclusion

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I've joked in this blog a number of times about the amount of demolition that has occurred in downtown Cape in the name of "progress" over the past few years. More often than not this "progress" has resulted in parking lots and the institution that has been responsible for much of this "progress" has been the University.

The latest "progress" news from the University was the approval last Thursday by the Regents to tear down the nearly 100-year-old Washington School that SEMO owns on Fountain Street. Southeast needs the space for parking at the neighboring Autism Center that is nearing completion.

If you've driven by the location, it's quite clear that the positioning of the Autism Center on the property leaves very little space for parking. It's apparent that something has to go and in this case, seniority has drawn the short straw.

However, besides the parking issue, the other reasons reported for this necessary demolition are kind of lame. For instance, the Regents were told the old school building has a leaky roof and crumbling façade.

The fact of the matter is that all buildings eventually require maintenance at some point. No roof stays tight forever. Maintenance-free brick walls require tuck-pointing after several decades. HVACs have to eventually be replaced. Delaying minor maintenance often snowballs into major maintenance.

The University also noted the fact they spend $30,000 to $40,000 annually on utilities for this building. Sounds like a lot, doesn't it? It certainly is when you compare it against your own home utility bills.

However, it is a pretty safe bet that you don't live in a 56,000 square foot house.

A more accurate comparison would be the Southeast Missourian building or City Hall.

The Missourian building on Broadway -- which is slightly smaller than Washington School -- went through an extensive renovation a few years ago. The aging boiler and air-conditioning systems were replaced with state-of-the-art, energy-efficient HVAC units including complex computer-controlled zoning that provide very precise environmental control throughout the building.

Yet, even with this multi-million dollar renovation, the newspaper's annual utility bills are about double what the University is reportedly spending for Washington School.

Then there is the case of City Hall. It occupies the New Lorimier School building on Independence and is a significantly smaller structure than Washington School with just 21,000 square feet. The City spent $30,568 for that building's utilities last year.

In short, even if the University spent $40,000 in utilities annually at the Washington School building that is not out of line for a building its size.

However, I know that none of this really matters. The "case" made to the Board of Regents for demolishing Washington School was strictly a formality and to give an air of plausibility to anyone present who was reporting on the issue.

It's much better PR to give credible sounding reasons like leaky roofs and cracked facades and out-dated HVAC systems rather than just telling the truth and admitting that the decision to raze Washington School was made a long time ago, far above yours and mine pay-grade.

Frankly, I think the "approval" by the Regents is window-dressing.

Just consider that a legal notice requesting bids for the demolition of Washington School ran in the Southeast Missourian during the week PRIOR to the Regent's "decision" last Thursday.

That kind of makes me think that that portion of their meeting was pretty much irrelevant and that the "approval" to raze Washington School was a foregone conclusion.