Construction could create fast growth in area for 2008

If everything promised for the region in terms of construction takes place, 2008 could be the beginning of one of the fastest periods of growth ever seen in our area.

First came the announcement by Saint Francis Medical Center that it plans an $84 million heart and cancer hospital adjacent to its present facility. Now, as you can see from our front page this morning, developer Mike Mathes has joined forces with builder and developer Stacy Mans-field and area businessman Eugene Holloway to pour money into 135 to 140 homes in 12 subdivisions.

And now a St. Louis-based entrepreneur, Seymour Chilton, advises me that he wants to build one of the first apartment complexes to go up in the area in recent years. Not only that, but Chilton also said he's bringing two clothing retailers to the area as well as a restaurant franchise and a 7-Eleven convenience store.

Chilton hit my radar when I was checking new business licenses Friday at the Cape Girardeau city hall. I caught him on the telephone Saturday from Carbondale, Ill. The new business license recognized his ownership of the laundry at 501 N. Silver Springs Road, which will now become Sonsey Village Laundry from its former name of Waterworks Laundry.

Chilton and his investors -- who he identified as medical professionals but would not name -- formed Sonsey Enterprises LLC on Jan. 8. The strip mall on the southwest corner of Themis Street and North Silver Springs Road will become Sonsey Village Plaza.

On the east side of North Silver Springs Road, Chilton said the partners have purchased vacant land that will become a 66-unit gated apartment community. The apartments will be a mix of long-term leases and furnished corporate apartments for short-term tenants, Chilton said.

The furnished units will be "for medical staffing companies, like headhunters for nursing agencies" that bring recruits to Cape Girardeau for the two hospitals, he said.

Chilton hopes to break ground on the apartment construction in July, he said.

"As I am sure you know, the medical field is pretty strong in this specific region," he said. He's done the research and knows that the hospitals draw patients from across Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois, Western Kentucky, Northwest Tennessee and Northeast Arkansas.

Medical staffing companies need a place to put potential recruits or people in the area for a short term that would be an alternative to hotel accommodations, Chilton said.

Chilton said he and his investors purchased the convenience store on the northeast corner and have a contract to convert it into a 7-Eleven convenience store.

The company also plans to bring two national franchise clothing stores to Cape Girardeau as well as a food franchise, Chilton said. He would not disclose the names of either the retailers or the restaurant.

He did say that he had sought to open at least one clothing retail franchise in Carbondale, Ill., but the company rejected that city because its demographics weren't right for its merchandise, which he described as targeted at junior high and high school students.

With 225,000 people in a 25-mile radius of Cape Girardeau, he said, the company decided it was "a better start in Cape than in Carbondale."

Chilton said he and partners own laundries in St. Louis, Chicago, New York and Indiana, as well as about 300 apartment units in locations such as Las Vegas, Chicago, St. Louis and Indiana.

Chilton said he has worked as a choreographer and headliner in Las Vegas.

• Pancakes, anyone?: A new Huddle House franchise is under construction in front of the Town House Inn, 505 N. Kingshighway. The 24-hour restaurant will be owned by Matt and Robin Goehman, owners of the Town House Inns in Jackson and Cape Girardeau, and should be open by mid-May, Robin Goehman said.

"We just kind of looked at different things and the Huddle House was the one that stood out to us," Goehman said.

The 24-hour operation is attractive, especially with the traffic that can often be seen coming out of Broadway around bar closing time, she said. "I am not out late at night, but I hear there is nowhere really to go" that has a sit-down, server-based operation in that area, Goehman said.

The new Huddle House would be the second restaurant in the 400-location chain to locate in our area. There's one already in operation at 3508 Nash Road.

The eatery will be the Goehmans' first venture into the restaurant business, Robin Goehman said. They purchased the Cape Girardeau hotel in November 2006 and followed up by purchasing the Jackson Town House Inn in February 2007.

And now to my news release file.

• Smoke-free: Customers of the Bob Evans Restaurant at 156 Vantage Drive in Cape Girardeau will no longer be able to light up after their meal. The restaurant's parent company, Bob Evans Farms, announced Wednesday that it is banning smoking in 16 restaurants in Missouri and Kansas that still permitted cigarettes. All Bob Evans Restaurants in the two states will now be smoke-free, the company said in a news release.

"The decision to change operations to nonsmoking is the result of customer comments, national and local industry trends and the U.S. Surgeon General's report issued June 27, 2006," the company said.

• Money coach: The latest financial author and money adviser to visit Southeast Missouri State University will be Lynette Khalfani-Cox, the self-named "money coach." She will speak to Southeast students at 7 p.m. Thursday in Academic Hall on methods for eliminating student and personal debt. The event is free and open to the public.

Khalfani-Cox is the author of four books, a frequent guest on national television and radio programs and has a background as a financial journalist working for Dow-Jones Newswires and the Wall Street Journal.

According to a news release issued Friday by Southeast Missouri State, Khalfani-Cox has personal experience eliminating debt, having paid off more than $100,000 in credit card charges and becoming a self-made millionaire. The lecture is sponsored in part by a grant from the Missouri Department of Higher Education's loan default prevention program and Southeast's "You Owe it to Yourself" initiative for student financial responsibility.

• New tool: Gov. Matt Blunt announced last week that Missouri companies facing decisions on work force expansions, job retention and business organization can use a new Internet tool. The Rapid Response site, www.rapidresponse.ded.mo.gov, will include a job vacancy survey, providing real-time information about the quantity and quality of job vacancies in Missouri, as well as a place for Missourians seeking jobs to get information about available openings.
• Safe drivers: Buchheit Trucking Service Inc. of Scott City was recognized with an honorable mention in the "Over the Road, One to Five Million Miles" category at the 61st annual Missouri Motor Carriers Association Safety Award luncheon held Tuesday in Jefferson City.
• Eat a burger, help others: Culver's of Cape Girardeau will join its parent company March 5 by donating 10 percent of its sales to the local American Red Cross chapter. All of the funds will be used locally and there will be donation canisters on hand for patrons to add to the gift given because of their purchase.

Rudi Keller is the business editor for the Southeast Missourian. Contact him at rkeller@semissourian.com or call 335-6611, extension 126