Broadway Theatre fire still under investigation; fundraising festival to begin Saturday

The news was almost unbelievable. Suzanne Hightower hung up the phone March 31 after hearing from her real estate agent the former Broadway Theatre — a building she recently acquired to restore -- had just suffered a damaging fire.

"I was almost in tears," Hightower said.

Three months later, metal supports keep the building's facade upright. Its burned interior awaits renovations.

The Cape Girardeau Police Department opened an investigation for arson days after the fire. As of Monday, the investigation is still open.

Cape Girardeau police Sgt. Joey Hann said detectives have interviewed multiple people associated with the incident, but none offered pertinent information.

Bradway Theater after remodeling in 1938.Southeast Missourian file

"There has not been enough evidence to establish formal charges on a suspect at this point," Hann said.

The fire cost an estimated $300,000 in damages, but that doesn't deter Hightower's determination to save what she sees as an architecture gem.

Hightower is the president of Cape Broadway Theatre, a not-for-profit focused on bringing the Broadway Theatre back to its former glory.

This weekend, the group will host Cape Broadway Theatre Festival to raise money for the theater's revival.

The festival will include live music from Brett Seper, Todd Mayberry, a brass quintet and Sam + Jess. Food trucks including Rufus Red Hots and Ty's Summer Sno will serve their signature eats.

For entertainment, the festival will include a bouncy house, cornhole and vendors to shop from.

Cape Broadway Theatre currently aims to raise $250,000 through a GoFundMe campaign. Hightower estimates the entire project will cost close to $15 million to remake the theater.

The initial $250,000 will pay for a structural engineer to access the building, a new roof and construction to stabilize the front of the theater.

Hightower is also the CEO, owner and creator of Speakeasy Coffee Co., a coffee shop next door to the Broadway Theatre. It's set to open either this August or September, Hightower said.

Speakeasy Coffee Co. lies in the former space of Pitter's Cafe and Lounge. It's name derives from when the space once housed a speakeasy during the Prohibition era.

Why spend so much time and money restoring old buildings? Hightower said she's driven by her passion for architecture and history.

"I'm just trying to make downtown better and provide things for people to do," Hightower said.

When she's not fighting for historic buildings, Hightower works as a pharmacist.

She hails from Gilbert, Iowa, and moved to Cape Girardeau in 2010.

Hightower didn't know about the theater until she got the chance to go on a tour of its interior with Liz Haynes, Old Town Cape's executive director.

Entrepreneur John T. Sackmann first opened the theater in 1921. It originally showed vaudeville shows and silent movies. The theater opened and closed multiple times throughout the decades.

In 2015, the Broadway Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

"It's such a beautiful theater," Hightower said. "Nobody knows what's in there, but it's gorgeous."

Cape Broadway Theatre Festival will run from 4 to 9 p.m. Saturday in the parking lot at 834 Broadway, at the northeast corner of the Broadway and North Pacific Street intersection.