BUILDING CAPE: CAPE GIRARDEAU CONTINUES STEADY CONSTRUCTION GROWTH

Gary Niswonger secured insulation to the D&K warehouse at 1823 Rust Ave. The building will have 60,000 square feet of space and was being built by Contrend Construction Co. of Cape Girardeau.

When Alliance Blue Cross Blue Shield was searching for a place to build its new service center, executives looked at community lifestyles, cost of living, a productive work force and tax incentives.

Alliance officials found what they wanted at Cape Girardeau.

The insurance company, headquartered in St. Louis, is looking toward a new "build-to-suit" facility in the Cape West Business Park, alongside Interstate 55, between Route K and Bloomfield Road.

The new center will be in Cape Girardeau's enterprise zone, which means some tax abatements for Alliance.

The center, which will provide about 200 jobs, is expected to process about 10,000 claims daily and handle customer service calls, billing and provide service calls.

Cape West Business Park is where a lot of Cape Girardeau construction action is these days.

Permits for more than $2.5 million have been issued for Cape West Business Park projects this year -- Alliance Blue Cross Blue Shield, $1.6 million; Staples Office Supply, $400,000; Shoe Carnival, $360,000; Other strip mall costs, $300,000.

Shoe Carnival, the latest retail business to announce it was moving to Cape Girardeau, will occupy 12,000 square feet in a strip mall along Siemers in the business park with Staples Office Supply, Factory Card and the Dollar Tree.

At least one more unidentified restaurant chain has expressed an interest in the city's West End.

That's not all.

Groundwork is under way for a new Sam's Club, which is in the future for a site between Wal-Mart Supercenter and Lowe's Home Center. Dirt is also being moved into place for Wehrenberg's 14-cine theater.

"No permits have been issued for these two projects yet," said Richard Murray, inspection services director for the Inspection Services Division of the city.

"Looking ahead to these two projects, along with others, we're looking to a super construction year in Cape Girardeau," said Murray. "We're not getting the giant projects this year, but we're issuing a lot of permits in the $300,000 to $1.5 million range."

The city issued 489 in 1995 totaling $44.367,286.

"This could be a record year," said Murray. "Housing has picked up over the past couple of months and there have been a number of remodeling and expansion project permits issued."

New home construction was down throughout Cape Girardeau County in 1995, following residential home-building booms in Cape Girardeau and Jackson in 1993-1994.

"We issued permits for only 57 homes in 1995," said Murray. "Through July of 1996, we had issued permits for 38 single-family homes. In 1994, we issued permits for more than 100."

Permits for 15 single residential homes have been issued the past two months, with nine of those in July, at a cost of $1,347,257 for an average of almost $150,000. Residential construction for the year is more than $5.5 million, up more than $1.8 million for 28 homes through July of last year.

Jackson experienced an explosion of home building during 1993 and 1994. During those two years the Jackson permit office issued permits for more than 350 single-residence homes -- 207 in 1994 and 151 in 1993.

In 1995, Jackson officials reported 111 single-family home permits in the amount of $9.8 million. This year's figure are up. During the first six months, 65 home-building permits have been issued in the amount of $6.8 million.

Overall, construction is down from 1995 in Cape Girardeau.

Through the first seven months, the city has issued 295 permits, in the amount of $26,997,235, down from 344 permits in the amount of $29,240,510 for the same period in 1995.

The record construction year for Cape Girardeau came in 1992, when both hospitals -- Southeast Missouri Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center -- started giant projects. That year permits worth $47.9 million were issued.

One of million-dollar plus projects this year is under way on Rust Avenue, site of the D&K Drug Warehouse center, being built at $1.4 million. In the $500,000-plus range is an office building and warehouse at 1097 Corporate Circle in the Six Thirty Industrial Park, along Southern Expressway.

Two large city recreational building projects have boosted construction permits by more than $4 million -- the Shawnee Park Sports Complex, $1,551,889, and Osage Park Community Center, $2,422,232.

The giant project of the year is on at Lone Star Industries, a $7.5 million clinker storage building.

The largest construction project is the new Emerson Memorial Bridge across the Mississippi River.

Construction on the $50 million bridge will get under way Sept. 3 by FlatIron Structures Co. of Longmont, Colo.

Meanwhile, Missouri construction is up overall for the year, at $3.09 billion, up from $3.05 billion through the first six months of 1995.

Missouri residential construction is up for the first six months to $1.4 billion, 22 percent more than the $1.1 billion through June 1995.

Nationally, overall construction is up 4 percent for the year. Business and nonbuilding construction is down for the year, but residential construction is up 17 percent.