CAPE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY HAS SOME `CATCHING UP' TO DO HERE; LOCAL HOUSING PERMITS OFF '90 PACE

The outline of a $1.5 million, three-story parking garage for Southeast Missouri Hospital is beginning to take shape.

Construction of the facility, which started this spring and will adjoin a current four-level parking garage, is expected to be completed within seven months.

The new garage is the largest commercial project to date this year in Cape Girardeau. The permit for the facility, which was issued in May, calls for a construction cost of $1,493,800. The next largest commercial project it that of a church improvement and expansion, at Hanover Lutheran Church, at a cost of $450,000.

The construction industry in Cape Girardeau has some catching up to do if it is to match the $25 million total construction figures recorded during each of the past three years.

Nearing the half-way mark of 1991, permits have been issued for $8,759,000 in the city, and that includes residential houses and expansion, along with commercial buildings and additions.

Remodeling and expansions have accounted for a big chunk of building costs, both for residential and commercial.

No less than 19 permits were issued in April for additions to existing homes, accounting for more than $200,000 in expansion costs. Another 15 remodeling permits were issued in May, totaling over $125,000. For the five and half months, a total of 90 home improvement permits were issued, calling for $609,000 in improvements.

The home market is below 1990 totals. During the first six months of 1990, permits were issued for 41 houses. To date this year, only 26 permits have been issued. The new homes range in price from $50,000 to $250,000, with 12 of them over the $100,000 mark for an average of $93,500.

Commercial construction at this point, however, is above the 1990 totals.

Fifty-three permits have been issued, ranging from new buildings to expansions of existing commercial structures, for a total cost of $5,719,000. During the first six months of 1990, 61 permits had been issued for commercial work, but cost totals were about $4.2 million, a million and half under this year's totals.

The big commercial boom came during the final quarter of 1990.

At least one contractor in Cape Girardeau said without commercial construction in the final three months of 1990, the construction trade would have "really been hurting."

October was a big commercial month in 1990, with permits issued for $4.4 million in new construction and expansions. Over the final quarter, a total of 42 permits were issued calling for more than $7.7 million in contracts.

Only seven new-home permits were issued during the final quarter of 1990.

Construction figures in Cape Girardeau have topped the $25 million mark since 1988, when they hit $25,779,188. In 1989, permits were issued for $25,088,676, and last year, the total construction hit $25,517,419.