NEW ON THE BUSINESS SCENE: CONSTRUCTION UNDER WAY

Construction is under way on the Bavarian-style Jackson Drury Inn and Suites hotel nine miles north of Cape Girardeau at Interstate 55 and U.S. 61.

The 80-room, four-story hotel is patterned after the Drury Inn in Frankenmuth, Mich., and boasts the same Bavarian theme and decor. Half of the rooms are two-room suites.

Cape Girardeau-based Drury Southwest Inc. is project developer and Dennis Vollink is construction manager. Byron Foust is architect.

The hotel will be adjacent to an outdoor garden and Bavarian Halle offering banquet facilities for up to 700 people. The hotel features a traditional Bavarian appearance complete with bell towers and a stucco exterior.

Joseph Barthelette has been appointed general manager of the hotel, which is expected to open in January. Barthelette, a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia with a bachelor of science degree in hotel and restaurant management, started with Drury Inns Inc. in 1991.