STRICTLY BUSINESS: WAL-MART UPDATES: JACKSON, PERRYVILLE

Some Wal-Mart stores close, some new ones open, but the Bentonville, Ark.-headquartered group could reach the 2,000 mark in Wal-Mart stores sometime next year.

Three of those new stores will be in the Southeast Missouri/Southern Illinois area, at Anna in Illinois, and Perryville and Jackson in Missouri.

"The three new supercenters will replace current Wal-Mart Stores," said Keith Morris, a public relations spokesman from the Bentonville office, who updated the paper on the new facilities last week.

The Anna store, at 300 Leigh Ave., Illinois 146 and U.S. 51, is expected to open in the spring.

"Foundation and site work is about complete there," said Morris.

Construction at Perryville will start this month, with a target date of a summer opening. The Perryville Supercenter will be located near Interstate 55.

The supercenters at Anna and Perryville will be 109,000 square feet.

In comparison, these centers will be about two-thirds as large as the Cape Girardeau Supercenter, a giant, 160,000-square-foot operation that opened in 1992.

Wal-Mart watertower

Wal-Mart will embark on another construction project in connection with the Perryville project -- a water tower.

"The new supercenter needs the new water tower to meet fire insurance requirements for water pressure and volume in its sprinkler system," said Morris.

So Wal-Mart has agreed to build the new water tower and deed it to the city. The $200,000, 300,000-gallon capacity tower will be constructed to Perryville municipal specifications.

The city will assume operation and maintenance of the facility.

Plans have not been released for the new Jackson Wal-Mart Supercenter.

"The project is still in the early stages," said Morris. "We know it will be located along U.S. 61, but the size and timetable have not been established.

The Jackson building will be at least 109,000 square feet, but could be larger, said Morris. "The 109,000-square-foot figure is the smallest for Supercenter classification."

At a glance: As of last January, Wal-Mart counted 1,960 stores, with projections of 1,980 by next January. Add to those totals, 440 Sams's Warehouse Club stores, and the Wal-Mart chain already stands at more than 2,400 stores.

Good construction news

There's some good news afoot for the U.S. construction industry.

During 1997, construction has experienced another year of expansion, the sixth in a row, with the value of new construction projects to end the year with a 2 to 3 percent increase.

In addition, the construction industry appears to be on track to continue its healthy growth into 1998.

Construction is in its seventh straight year of growth nationally, and the prospects are good for next year, according to "Construction Outlook," a forecast on construction issued by McGraw-Hill Construction Information Group.

Favorable prospects have also emerged from the state and local fronts. Missouri still trails year-ago totals, but the percentages have been improving over the third, and into the fourth quarter.

F.W. Dodge Division of the McGraw-Hill Cos., keeps tabs on state totals, producing the Dodge Reports and Sweet's Catalog files.

September construction activity in Missouri was up 2 percent, reversing a downward trend the first half of the year. Three months ago, in June, total show-me state construction was down by more than 13 percent.

Statewide construction

Statewide figures are still down overall, but much improved. Total construction for the first 10 months of the year, through October, was $4.4 billion, down from the $4.7 billion of a year ago.

Nonresidential construction during the first 10 months, which includes commercial, manufacturing and other buildings not designed for shelter, was reported at $1.6 billion, down about 10 percent from the $1.18 billion of a year ago.

Residential construction through October, was $1.96 billion, down 6 percent from the same period a year ago.

Nonbuilding construction, which includes streets, highways, bridges, river and harbor developments, airports and a few other projects, was reported at $819,982,000 through October, down 4 percent from a year ago.

We'll take a look at the local construction statistics next week, but briefly, they're past the $30 million mark for the year.

Residential construction

A big chunk of the new construction in Cape Girardeau was for living quarters -- 60 single-family homes and four duplex or small apartment buildings, for $12.8 million.

A total of 475 permits have been issued this year.

"We've really been busy the past few months," said Rick Murray, city inspection services director.

"Construction was off to a slow start this year because of weather, but things are looking up now, and we're looking to a great year in 1998," he said.

Forecast for 1998

McGraw-Hill CIG, which has a long history of providing construction information and forecasts, provides the following outlook for 1998.

-- Single houses may decline, 2 percent, but dollar volume will be up, 1 percent.

-- Public works construction will climb 3 percent.

-- Income properties will advance 6 percent, about the same as 1997, led by double-digit growth for offices.

-- Manufacturing buildings will climb 6 percent, as manufacturers increase capacity in response to the strong 1997 economy.

Institutional building will advance 5 percent, due much to new schools.

B. Ray Owen is business editor for the Southeast Missourian.