CAPE GIRARDEAU INDUSTRIAL PARK TO WELCOME A NEW OCCUPANT

After a three-year hiatus, the Cape Girardeau Industrial Park is welcoming a new occupant to its environs.

The last business to occupy a site there was Resin Exchange, which relocated to the industrial park in October of 1988 from its its former quarters on Broadview Street.

Local realtors working in commercial development say they have prospects interested in locating there, but have no definite news to report. Two brokers said they each have an out-of-state industrial company considering the park as a site for a plant that would have 40 to 50 employees.

Officials with the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce report that a transportation company has committed to building a new facility on a five-acre tract it purchased west of General Sign Co. They declined to identify the company. Cape Girardeau County has no deed filed yet on the transaction.

"The industrial park is on its way up," said Judy Moss, economic development director with the chamber. Though the acquisition was the first in three years, she said the development is not in a stalemate.

"A three-year interval is not uncommon," said Chauncey Bucheit of the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission in Perryville. He noted the industrial park at Marble Hill just recruited a new occupant after many years.

Bucheit said the industrial park at Farmington has been a relatively active and just sold a "spec" building to a business.

Moss said the Cape Girardeau Industrial Park would benefit by having a spec building available as a selling point. "Lon Maxey of General sign used the last one there," she said. "I would hope to see another one erected. I would like to see a 20,000 to 40,000-square-foot expandable put up. I would want it to be just a shell so nothing would impede selling the building, such as the floor not being strong enough."

Cape Girardeau commercial real estate broker Bob Price agrees. He said, "Spec buildings are one of the best selling tools a developer can use. And some customers cannot envision a building when you have just vacant land. Sometimes a company needs to be operating in 60 to 90 days and needs an existing building."

Moss said the lack of a spec building is overshadowed by the park's main asset, nearness of road, rail, river and air transportation.

The development is adjacent to Interstate 55, is within sight of the municipal airport, has a Burlington Northern Railroad spur, and is within a few miles of the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority.

Other assets include a flat topography that reduces earthmoving costs of construction, and plentiful supplies of water, gas, sewer service and electricity for industrial use.

The park's disadvantages, besides the lack of a spec building, is a rural location to companies preferring to be inside a city and a limited amount of land available, Moss indicated.

Some prospective companies are put off by the sight of the levee along the north side, according to chamber president Bob Hendrix. Maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the levee is the northernmost part of the huge Little River Drainage District that protects the area from flooding.

The alluvial soils in the flatlands, where the park is located, are more subject to liquefaction during seismic activity than those further north. A spokesman for the Center for Earthquake Studies at Southeast Missouri State University said that engineering solutions can alleviate the potential liquefaction problems without adding much cost to the building for seismic design.

The park is in the Enterprise Zone Program, like other ones in and around Cape Girardeau. The program allows various tax rebates and credits, notably a 10-year partial exemption on state income taxes. Bucheit said Enterprise Zone benefits outweigh those of a similar tax abatement program, Tax Increment Financing.

Moss estimates 40 percent of the 300 acre park is now occupied. Armstrong Cork Co. owns the majority of the vacant land. Two buildings, Brokers Bonded Warehouse and Moon Distributing, are available for lease or purchase since they are vacant.

Moss figures 712 employees work at the 13 manufacturing plants in the park, earning about $14.8 million annually.

According to county property tax records, the land and buildings are worth $13.1 million.

The park is owned by the Greater Cape Girardeau Development Corporation. The body, composed of stock-purchasing investors, is headed by a 15-member board elected from among the investors.

"The mission of the corporation is to have improved land available for prospective clients and infrastructure in place to satisfy prospective industries," said Hendrix, who is secretary/treasurer of the group. Harry Rediger is president of the board of directors. Moss is the primary outreach person for marketing the Industrial Park.