CAPE GIRARDEAU CONSTRUCTION: CURRENT TOTALS FOR 1998 COMPARES WITH GOOD YEARS

A new Amoco service station opened recently on Route K near Interstate 55.

A new building is under construction on Rust Avenue.

It will house a company that converts factory vehicles into sports cars, and/or, beef them up into "muscle" vehicles.

An alteration permit has been issued for a downtown building to house a lounge at Main and Independence.

It will become a new restaurant.

A half-dozen homeowners have added decks during the past couple of months. Seven new private swimming pools have been added in Cape Girardeau this summer.

In between, the Cape Girardeau Inspection Services Division, has issued more than 250 building permits during the first six months of the year.

"This has been a good construction year so far," said Richard Murray, director of the inspection services division, which issues permits in all categories -- building, electrical, plumbing and others.

"At this point, we can see a record year in Cape Girardeau in 1998," said Murray.

He reasons that commercial construction is experiencing a lot of expansion projects to go along with new buildings, and residential construction -- single-family housing and apartments -- could reach record proportions.

To date, building permits have been issued in the amount of $21,252,732.

"That compares with some of our best years," said Murray.

In 1996, more than 200 permits had been issued at midyear, in the amount of $21.2 million.

"1996 proved to be one of our great years," said Murray. "We finished the year with more than 500 building permits valued at $47.6 million." Those totals included 86 new homes and 18 apartment units, at a combined value of more than $14 million, and 30 new commercial buildings at a value of $26.1 million.

Home building is up this year.

"We have already issued permits for 45 new homes, including a permit for a one million-dollar residence," said Murray. "Add to those residential totals more than 60 units of apartments, and the money totals for residential housing is near the $10 million mark.

The city is expected to see the start of more homes in the immediate future months, said Murray.

Also expected this year are some additional permits for school construction. School additions and remodeling permits have already been issued for two school structures -- at Jefferson and Cape Central Junior High -- in the combined amount of more than $3 million.

Expansion projects have been numerous during the first half of the year, with more than 125 permits for additions, alterations and conversions in the amount of almost $3 million.

A number of new commercial buildings are in various stages of construction, including an eye-care facility on Mount Auburn Road and a new Amoco Service Station/Convenience Store that opened along Route K near Interstate 55.

Construction in Cape Girardeau was down in 1997, after three straight years of increases. Following $24.1 million in construction in 1993, totals went to $38.9 million in 1994, $44.3 million in 1995 and $47.6 million (second best in the history of the city), in 1996.

A year ago, the totals dropped to $33.3 million.

The record construction year was recorded in 1993, at $47.9 million, during a period when both hospitals -- Southeast Missouri Hospital and St. Francis Medical Center -- each had multimillion-dollar expansions.

Construction totals here do not include the city's street and sewer improvements, nor totals on the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge, which is under construction.

Construction nationally, has experienced growth during the past seven years, and prospects are good for the remainder of this year, according to a construction outlook forecast, issued by McGraw-Hill Construction Information Group this month.

Residential building fell nationally in May, but a pickup in nonresidential building was reported. Even with a small dip -- 3 percent -- in single-family housing in May, the amount of residential activity still represents a healthy amount, said the McGraw-Hill report. The cost of financing continues to be supportive, with mortgage rates holding close to the 7 percent mark in both May and June.

Non-residential building -- commercial, manufacturing, educational, hotel, churches -- is up 2 percent for the year, to $122.6 billion nationally, led by a 29 percent increase for new hotel/motel construction.

Actually, construction was down 1 percent for the first five months of 1998, from that of a year ago.

In Missouri, total construction through the first five months of the year is also down 3 percent, to about 2.3 billion, from $2.4 billion during the same period a year ago.

In Missouri, residential building is down 3 percent, nonresidential construction is down 13 percent, but nonbuilding -- bridge, streets, highways, dams, water supply systems -- is up 13 percent.

A look at the 1990s in Cape Girardeau:

1990: $25.6 million.

1991: $31.7 million.

1992: $47.9 million.

1993: $24.1 million.

1994: $38.9 million.

1995: $44.3 million.

1996: $47.6 million.

1997: $33.3 million.

*1998: $21.2 million.

Total: $314.7 million

*First six months.