Cape council may approve fiber-optic plan with Marquette Tech District Foundation

A proposed agreement between the city of Cape Girardeau and the Marquette Tech District would clear the way for installation of fiber-optic cable in downtown.

The city council is set to approve a resolution to enter into the agreement when it meets today. The meeting was moved from Monday because of the Fourth of July holiday.

Under the agreement, the Marquette Tech District Foundation will use two of the city's fiber-optic strands to provide high-speed internet to the H-H Building and the Marquette Tower, formerly the Marquette Hotel, and provide free Wi-Fi internet service within the downtown tech district.

The Foundation wants to use the city's underground conduit on Broadway, extending from the H-H Building to the intersection of Broadway and Spanish Street, city clerk Gayle Conrad wrote in an agenda report to the council. The conduit was installed during the Broadway improvement project for future public use, according to Conrad.

Jeffrey Maurer, who serves on the newly created not-for-profit foundation board of directors, said the foundation plans to install fiber-optic cable along Broadway. Spanish and Main streets in the city's downtown. The foundation will own all the hardware, including switches and routers.

Maurer said the foundation will invest "several hundred thousand dollars" in the equipment needed to provide the high-tech infrastructure needed for today's internet users.

A local investor group led by Maurer announced plans in April to redevelop the vacant Marquette Hotel into a high-tech hub for startup technology companies and turn the H-H Building and the adjacent Marquette Center into a Marriott "Courtyard" Hotel with a casual-dining restaurant on the ground floor.

The $20 million development involves 145,000 square feet of historic renovation, according to Maurer of Mayson Capital Partners of Cape Girardeau. When completed, the Marquette Tech District is expected to draw 200 to 300 workers and guests daily to Cape Girardeau's downtown, he has stated.

Maurer said creation of the foundation may help secure federal grants to fund some of the fiber-optic improvements.

The foundation is separate from the real-estate development group, he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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