BIDS WILL BE SOUGHT IN FALL ON SIKESTON EDUCATION CENTER

SIKESTON -- Bids will be sought in October for construction of a Sikeston Area Higher Education Center, which will operate through a partnership between Southeast Missouri State University and Three Rivers Community College.

The Sikeston Area Higher Education Center advisory council held its first meeting Monday to review plans for the Sikeston center. Advisers from Sikeston, Dexter, Portageville, New Madrid, East Prairie and Charleston met to elect officers and review plans for construction of the $4.5 million center, which will provide educational opportunities for residents of the Bootheel and the Sikeston region.

Classes are already being held in a renovated bank building in Sikeston. The new building is planned in the Sikeston Industrial and Technology Park at U.S. 61 and Route ZZ.

Bids for construction of the 33,000-square-foot facility will be sought after Southeast's Board of Regents approves a design by Ittner Inc., a St. Louis architectural and engineering firm. The building will house classrooms, technology labs and an interactive television area.

Construction is expected to begin soon after bids are approved this fall. The center is expected to open in fall 1999.

The center is being financed through a $1.5 million appropriation last year from the Missouri General Assembly and a quarter-cent sales tax approved by Sikeston voters in April. The tax is expected to bring in about $3 million over a six-year period.