New company buys area subdivisions

Business Today

Cape Girardeau real estate investors Eric and Karla Marquart and Mike and Debbie Annis have formed a company called SEMO Land LLC. One of their first moves as a company involved buying several residential subdivisions in Southeast Missouri, including Forest Hills off Sprigg Street and Ashland Courts off Boulder Crest in Cape Girardeau, as well as subdivisions in Fruitland, Malden, Miner, Dexter and Poplar Bluff.

They bought the subdivisions from Southfork Inc., a Dallas, Texas-based company that was aligned with the former Holigan Homes. They plan to sell some of the lots to other builders.

"We felt like Cape needed more affordable housing," Eric Marquart said. "And this is affordable housing, compared to what's being built in Cape." Marquart said that his informal search of Cape found houses that reached $450,000, but the houses in their subdivisions will cost around $100,000.

"There isn't any place to build a lower or moderately priced house that I can find," he said.

They closed on the property about a month ago.