Marquette Hotel in Cape finally sold

103 state employees when $6 million renovation complete

Business Today

The Marquette Hotel building has languished vacant at the corner of Broadway and Fountain streets in downtown Cape Girardeau for 21 years -- getting older and deteriorating.

At a news conference July 12 in front of the erstwhile hotel, Cape Girardeau Mayor Jay Knudtson and real estate agent Thomas M. Meyer placed a "sold" sign on the building and proclaimed the hotel saved.

Knudtson announced that the Missouri Division of Facilities Management awarded a state contract for office space to Prost Builders of Jefferson City, the new owners of the building.

Carol Bullock, who oversaw the hotel deal for her mother Ruby, the former owner, said Prost Builders purchased the 74-year-old building for approximately $350,000.

The bid award means 103 state employees with the departments of Social Services, Mental Health and Health and Senior Services will move into the building when the $6 million renovations are complete.

Meyer, who spoke on behalf of Prost Builders, said renovations on the hotel will take about nine months, and the building should be ready for occupancy by summer 2003.

The first floor and mezzanine will be historically restored, and the top three floors will be converted to office space during renovations. When finished, the building will include retail shops and possibly a coffee bar on the first floor and two separate parking areas - one behind the building and another across Fountain Street, where the old Southeast Missouri State University public works building currently stands.

Carl Greeson, assistant director of facilities management for the state of Missouri, said the building's listing on the National Register of Historic Places was one of the major reasons the building was chosen.

"The governor has an executive order that requires us to place or lease facilities in downtown, historic and revitalized districts," Greeson said. "The best proposal in terms of benefits now and in the long term for the state, Cape Girardeau and the agencies involved was, in fact, the Marquette."

Greeson said other state office bids were rejected because of price or location.

The Marquette was once a luxury hotel with retail stores, a coffee shop and a barber shop, but it closed to the public in 1981.

At one point in January 2001, the city of Cape Girardeau told Carol Bullock she had two months to sell the building, fix it up or watch demolition crews tear it down.

Motivated by the thought of the building's demise, Bullock started a campaign to save it. She hosted a public reception in the hotel's lobby and enlisted historic preservation students from Southeast Missouri State University to research the building's history.

On April 11, 2002, the student's work paid off when the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Renovation of hotel

could begin in 90 days

Construction crews could begin restoring and renovating the Marquette Hotel within 90 days.

Vaughn Prost, chairman of the board of Jefferson City, Mo.-based Prost Builders, said a sign soon will go up soliciting private tenants for the building. The state will be the building's primary lessee, occupying offices on three of the renovated floors.

The company and the Department of Natural Resources are discussing how much of the building will be restored to its historic state and how much will be adapted for new uses.

Prost will install two new elevators. The existing elevator shaft is too small to use.

"Some of the character will be saved in the original elevator lobby," Prost said. "Some of the corridors will be preserved to a certain extent."

Prost said it's possible the roof may also be developed.

"It has a dramatic view," he said.