CAPE LICENSE BUREAU PLANS MOVE TO FORMER MONROE GLASS BUILDING

The Cape Girardeau license bureau will relocate to renovated quarters in the former Monroe Glass building in mid-December.

The license bureau will move from 220 N. Main to a brick building owned by downtown businessman Charles Hutson at 104 S. Spanish, several blocks away. The exact date of the move hasn't been determined.

The license bureau will occupy only the south part of the building. City officials are considering changing the license bureau's new address to 112 S. Spanish.

While it is relocating, the bureau will remain in the downtown area. That is good news to merchants, who say the bureau helps bring people downtown.

"That is why we worked hard to keep it downtown," Hutson said Tuesday. "It has been downtown for years and years and years."

He said it is a good deal for all parties.

Norma Wildman, license bureau manager, agreed. "We looked at different locations and we took the best financial package."

The new office will encompass about 1,200 square feet in the south end of the vacant, commercial building. In contrast, the current license bureau office is only about 900 square feet.

"It will give us a little more work area. It will give me an office," Wildman said.

In addition to larger quarters, the new site includes an asphalt parking lot just south of the brick building. The Main Street office has limited parking.

Downtown Parking Inc., comprised of downtown property owners including Hutson, owns the Main Street building.

The downtown corporation provided the building rent free to the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce when it operated the license bureau, and has continued that arrangement since the Southeast Missouri University Foundation took over the bureau.

The license bureau is moving because the Main Street site has been leased to Boyd Gaming Corp., which is setting up a riverboat gambling operation. The Main Street building will be torn down to make room for Boyd facilities.

Wildman said the foundation will pay $450 a month rent at the new site. The cost doesn't include utilities.

The foundation also is paying for about $10,000 worth of renovation work such as installing counters.

Hutson is paying the cost of major renovation work, including electrical improvements, putting in new tile, carpet and sheet rock, and lowering the ceilings.

Wildman said Hutson's willingness to pay for the renovation work was a major factor in choosing the downtown site.