Building optimism

Want to make a downtown business owner smile? Mention that the last piece of the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge is being put in place on Tuesday.

Want to make the smile wider? Remind him that the other downtown projects are progressing nicely: The new federal courthouse, the Fountain Street corridor, the Marquette Hotel and the River Campus.

"It's becoming a neat place to be," said Kent Zickfield, owner of Zickfield Jewelers and president of the Downtown Merchants Association. "It's what we've dreamed about."

For years, downtown Cape Girardeau has become almost an afterthought, he said, with so much attention being paid to the west part of town, with all of the new businesses going on there.

Each project is in various stages of development, with the $100 million Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge expected to be completed by the end of the year and the River Campus still a few years off.

Here's an update on each of the projects that has the whole downtown -- and, in fact, the whole city -- abuzz:

Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge

At 6 a.m. Tuesday, the new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge will reach a major milestone: It will span the length of the entire Mississippi River. The final steel girder closing the gap on the bridge will be put in place, weather permitting.

The reason the final piece is being put on so early is because the process is temperature sensitive, said area engineer Stan Johnson.

He explained that as the bridge warms up, it expands. So, during the cooler morning hours, they can put the girder in. Then, the gap will close and become tighter as the bridge expands from each pier, Johnson said.

But you shouldn't expect to be driving on it next week.

"But we still have quite a fair amount of work to do after that," Johnson said.

The bridge isn't expected to be completed until near the end of the year. Some more deck panels have to be put on, the cables have to be adjusted and grout put in them and a three-inch concrete surface has to be poured across the length of the span. Then electrical work has to be done and lighting added.

"There's still some work that's also weather related," Johnson said. "That may come up and bite us, but we're hopeful it will be done before year's end."

Fountain Street corridor

The Fountain Street corridor project will link downtown Cape Girardeau with the new bridge and is a joint project with the city and Southeast Missouri State University, because it will be just to the west of the university's River Campus project.

The first phase of the Fountain Street project will run from the new intersection of Highway 74 to Morgan Oak. The Cape Girardeau City Council at its most recent meeting authorized the review of the bids, and then the university is expected to award the bid. The low bid came from Nip Kelly Construction at $1.18 million.

City manager Doug Leslie said the project is expected to start on Aug. 19 and is scheduled to be done on Nov. 15, assuming the weather cooperates.

"Our goal all along was to have this completed by the time the new Bill Emerson bridge is complete," Leslie said.

The project is being paid for with Environmental Protection Agency grant money, Transportation Trust Fund money and university funds.

Al Stoverink, facilities management director at Southeast, said the corridor will be "a boulevard with historic downtown lighting fixtures." The street itself will be built with pavers, which are upscale colored blocks of stone.

The university is already doing some excavation, Stoverink said. They will tear down some of the older homes and a garage on Morgan Oak later this month, he said.

Phase II of the project will make the corridor extend from Morgan Oak on to William Street. That is unfunded as yet, but includes bike paths and a hiking/biking path.

"That's important to the project, too," said Catherine Dunlap, executive director of Old Town Cape, a group focused on revitalizing downtown. "We're going to have to seriously look at how to get that funded. We want it to really blend with what the university is going to have with the River Campus."

River Campus

The $35.6 million River Campus project will be a school for the visual and performing arts on the site of a former Catholic seminary. It will feature a walking trail and an open-roof shelter overlooking the Mississippi River.

Stoverink said the university is about to advertise for bids for some demolition work and roof replacement for the seminary building, work he expects to get under way this fall.

"We'll be taking down the maintenance shed and in the interior there's a lot of gutting out of old plaster, plywood and a lot of partitions," he said.

Next will be work to take asbestos and mold out of the interior. Workers will also remove the old mechanical and electrical systems. That will be done this fall, Stoverink said.

Stoverink said he hopes the Terrace Park project will be completed by the end of the year. The park will include a pavilion with an open roof and a winding trail through the tree-filled east side of the River Campus. The trail will take visitors around a state champion beech tree and provide them with a clear view of the Mississippi River and the new bridge.

Over the next year, the design work for the main construction will be done, and work on the main body of the building will likely begin in the fall of 2004. Stoverink said the university is on target to move into the building the summer of 2006.

Marquette Hotel

Once on the brink of being torn down, the old Marquette Hotel now is being prepared to become state office space as a group rapidly works on restoring the building.

Brian Whitlow, project manager for Prost Builders -- the group that bought the building -- said that the $6 million renovation project is on schedule.

"We've been finishing up the demolition," he said. "We've had to dig way down into the guts of the building to anchor it. We've got these big concrete anchors to hold down the walls so that an earthquake couldn't knock the building down."

They've also finished the foundation work for the elevators. They've also been busy refinishing the outside of the building, including power washing it for several days.

Prost Builders has also sent away the historical windows to have them refurbished.

"There wasn't much left, but what is left we want to use," he said.

Whitlow said they are still aiming for the work to be done by the first of the year. When asked what would happen if the work isn't done, he laughed.

"I've got to get it done, so we've got to compress the schedule," he said.

Federal building

A new $49.3 million Cape Girardeau federal building is being planned for property just west of city hall, on property that once served as a dump. The new federal courthouse will house three courtrooms and several offices for 97 employees and the federal court and connected agencies.

The General Services Administration is the agency in charge of building and maintaining federal buildings. Dennis Miller, the project manager, said they awarded a contract in June to PCL Construction Co. of Denver, Colo.

Miller said that actual construction will begin in late October or early November.

"They're still designing," he said. "That's what they're currently doing. They're working with the various occupants of the building -- you know, courts and the marshals -- so it fits everybody's specific needs."

Miller said the building is expected to be finished by late 2005.

"It will take all of two years," he said.

smoyers@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137