CAPE CONSTRUCTION BUILDS TOWARD GOOD YEAR; RESIDENTIAL PROJECTS REPRESENT A THIRD OF TOTAL

Declared construction costs in Cape Girardeau this year could top $40 million for the fourth time this decade.

During the first 11 months of 1998, more than 450 permits declaring construction costs of more than $38 million were recorded by Cape Girardeau Inspection Services Division. Adding December's figures, the total stands at 515 permits with a value of about $39 million.

The dollar figure already surpassed 1997's, which was the city's fifth best building year on record, said inspection services officials.

The 1998 construction year will go down as a good one in Cape Girardeau.

The housing market has been strong, with 82 homes, five duplexes and three apartment buildings containing 63 units being put under construction.

More than 40 commercial buildings and three public school buildings have added to the totals.

Housing has provided the largest chunk of construction money in Cape Girardeau. The 82 new homes to date have cost an average of more than $150,000, for a grand total of more than $12.5 million. Apartments and duplexes, accounting for 72 living units, have added another $4.3 million.

The largest single permit to date was for $3.4 million by Cape Girardeau public schools for an elementary school at 1829 N. Sprigg. Two more large school projects have added another $3.2 million to the year's totals.

The Cape Girardeau Board of Education approved a $1.76 million bid for extensive additions and renovations to Jefferson Elementary School and $1.44 million bid for improvements to Central Junior High School.

Total cost of the more than 40 new commercial buildings were put at $6.9 million. Another $5 million-plus is being spent on business and home expansions and other projects.

1998 may not reach a record year, but it could approach record proportions and is already fourth on the all-time list.

The record construction year for Cape Girardeau came in 1992, when two giant medical-center projects shoved the year's total to $47.9 million. Two more $40-million years are on the 1990s list: $47.6 million in 1990 and $44.3 million in 1995.

Construction totals don't include city street and sewer improvements, the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge and Southeast Missouri State University projects.

In Missouri, construction through the first 10 months of the year totaled $5.3 billion, up about 3 percent over the $5 billion during the same period a year ago. Residential building was up 6 percent to $2.82 billion, and commercial, manufacturing and educational construction was up 1 percent, to $2 billion, compared to $1.9 billion the same time a year ago.

Nationally, a steep drop in apartment building cooled housing construction in November, but builders continued to pour foundations for single-family homes at a rapid rate. Through November, builders started 1.5 million single-family units, compared with 1.47 million for all of 1997.

Housing markets have been boosted this year by a combination of low unemployment and low mortgage rates. Economists don't expect either mortgage rates or unemployment to get much lower, so they believe housing will cool off next year but remain fundamentally strong.