Broadway building's owner hopes rehab work done in 10 months

After nearly a year of delays, work has finally begun in earnest to rehabilitate a 143-year-old Cape Girardeau building that city officials call an eyesore and its owner describes as "the ugliest building on Broadway."

After sitting largely untouched for months, crews will be on-site daily, weather permitting, at the three-story building at the corner of Broadway and Sprigg Street, developer Kenny Pincksten said.

On Thursday, two brickworkers were hard at it and scaffolding had gone up. Ameren Missouri had installed temporary electricity. As early as today, Pincksten said, they are going to start removing the roof, which needs to be replaced.

Eventually, the east wall is going to have to come down. Pincksten describes the work as putting up a new building inside the old one. When he's done, he intends to have some type of business on the main floor and three apartments upstairs.

During construction, Pincksten said, he is taking great pains to maintain the building's historic integrity.

"When we're done, I want this building to look just like it did in 1868," Pincksten said. "That's why we're here doing what we're doing."

The goal, he said, is to have the $800,000 project completed in 10 months. That should give his Prestige Development Co. crews and subcontractors time to finish work on the dilapidated building that was built by Julius Vasterling three years after the Civil War.

If he meets his timeline, it will comply with a development agreement with the city that calls for the building to be "substantially rehabilitated" 15 months after the issuance of the building permits. The permits were issued in June, meaning that Pincksten has about a year from now to complete the project.

"That won't be an issue," Pincksten said. "We'll be able to do that."

A slow start

Still, some might be skeptical, considering the project's slow start. Cape Girardeau officials have an interest because they applied for, and were awarded, a nearly $400,000 state Community Development Block Grant for the project last November.

Mayor Harry Rediger said the city obviously wants to get the building improved as well as work on other upgrades to Broadway.

The Vasterling building sits at one of the city's busiest intersections. It also is situated along one of the main routes to the new $125 million Isle of Capri casino that is expected to be completed by the end of next year.

"It is an eyesore, and we're more than anxious for him to begin," Rediger said. "I thought it would be further along than it is now. Obviously, it's not. It's going to be up to him to get started."

The project was bumpy from the beginning. The development agreement stipulated that once Pincksten was notified that the city had been awarded the grant, he had 45 days to submit plans and specifications for city review, assistant city manager Heather Brooks said. The city was awarded the grant in November, but Pincksten didn't submit plans until Feb. 11, Brooks said.

The city responded with its comments on the plans five days later, she said. Pincksten, with the assistance of an architect and an engineer, submitted revised plans March 29. The city responded April 5 and the third submission of plans were returned by Pincksten 10 days later, Brooks said.

It continued like this until plans were finally approved in June, Brooks said.

"What should have taken 45 days took much longer," Brooks said. "I think until the permit was issued, it was eight months."

While there were several minor ones, Brooks said, some of the city's major concerns for the building -- which had been deemed unsafe by city inspectors -- were the structural soundness of the walls and that the floors would be built to meet the required load factors.

Under a previous owner, the building had already been through the condemnation process. Crews last year had to demolish a section of the building because a bowed wall had significantly weakened.

"To make it clear, there were things that weren't easy to address," Brooks said. "We had to meet and work through them. But the rest of the items could have been addressed much sooner."

Then, when the plans finally were approved and construction permits were issued in June, Pincksten didn't pick them up until last week.

"We really thought the project would move much quicker," Brooks said. "For Kenny, time got away from him a little bit in the submission of plans. But, as he's reminded me, he needs to make a living. Since the plans took awhile, he diverted some of his crews to start other projects."

So far, Cape Girardeau has only drawn $7,490 from the grant, but that was for administration costs, said Missouri Department of Economic Development spokesman John Fougere. The grant does not have an expiration date and all CDBG awards are open-ended, he said.

But loan agreements can be executed between the city and the developer and any timeline is up to the city to enforce, he said.

The way the grant works, Brooks said, is that the city treats the money as a forgivable loan and reimburses Pincksten for his costs. Then the city submits its receipts to the state and is paid back.

'The white elephant'

"We want to maintain a good relationship with Kenny, and he is investing a lot of his own money," she said. "But that building is so visible and it's the white elephant in the room. It's not getting done fast enough for Kenny's standards or our standards. It's frustrating for everyone."

The result, however, should be a revitalized building that has been saved and is being used for a good purpose, Brooks said. The project represents a first for the city and a learning curve was to be expected, she said.

City leaders would like other building owners to participate in that type of program, Brooks said.

For Pincksten's part, he acknowledges there were issues. But he's used to building new construction, he said, and there were times he wasn't even sure the project would happen.

But he said he now has awarded contracts to companies who will be working with him, such as brick workers and roofers.

And, despite any problems, this is a far cry better than his original plan, he said.

"My original intent was to bulldoze the building and build something new," he said.

But he was approached by city officials, the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce and Old Town Cape to encourage him to save the historic building that has served as a suit store outlet, a tavern and a meat shop over its long history.

"They convinced me of the importance of trying to save this building," Pincksten said. "It's been an education for myself and the city. But I think when it's done, it will be something that I can be proud of, the city of Cape Girardeau can be proud of and something the city council will be proud of."

smoyers@semissourian.com

388-3642

Pertinent address:

635-637 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO