~ The city may look to set up the welcome center elsewhere.
The Missouri Department of Transportation won't spend federal dollars to build a $1 million welcome center on the Southeast Missouri State University campus, local officials and the state's tourism director said Tuesday.
That's prompted the university to look at private funding and city and civic leaders to look at other possible sites for a welcome center that would also serve as the headquarters for the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce operates the CVB under a contract with the city. The chamber's board of directors will meet Tuesday to look at what might be the best option. The board would then make a recommendation to the city council.
University officials want to know by July whether the city still wants to relocate the CVB to the River Campus.
One option is to turn the Common Pleas Courthouse into a museum and welcome center and offices for the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau.
That could only happen if Cape Girardeau County government takes over the Federal Building and relocates circuit court and county offices from the old courthouse overlooking downtown Cape Girardeau.
Mayor Jay Knudtson said another option would be for the city to locate a welcome center along heavily traveled Interstate 55. But such an option likely would depend on securing private funding.
The city doesn't have the funds to build a $1 million visitors center, Knudtson said.
But the city may be better served by a welcome center along the interstate. "In all honesty, I was never really sold that a welcome center would be a thriving facility if located on the River Campus. To me, you have much more traffic taking place every day on Interstate 55," Knudtson said.
He suggested the welcome center might be less visible in the confines of a university building. "I think it is important that the city have its own identity," the mayor said.
The university is developing the River Campus on the grounds of a former Catholic seminary overlooking the Mississippi River.
Southeast president Dr. Ken Dobbins believes it's still feasible to construct a 5,000-square-foot welcome center on the River Campus next to the performance hall and regional museum being constructed on the arts school campus.
"We are looking to get a private donor," Dobbins said.
The university would own the welcome center and the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau could lease space, Dobbins said.
Dobbins said the welcome center could draw on graduate assistants and student interns to boost staff at no cost to the CVB.
Theatrical productions and the new regional history and art museum would draw thousands of visitors who could learn about other local attractions by stopping in the welcome center.
"This is already going to be the destination for many people," Dobbins said.
The university president said MoDOT changed its spending priorities and policies over the past two years. That pitted the welcome center against other possible transportation projects, Dobbins said.
MoDOT also wanted truck parking and rest rooms that would be open 24 hours a day. "They started putting in rest-stop requirements," said Dobbins.
That wasn't what local officials wanted, he said.
Missouri Division of Tourism director John Robinson had urged MoDOT to fund a welcome center at the River Campus. But he said Tuesday it's clear the transportation department has other priorities.
"Obviously MoDOT wants to fix the roads," Robinson said following a luncheon speech in Cape Girardeau to about 25 members of the Tri-State Advertising and Marketing Professionals organization.
Missouri has six welcome centers. Neighboring Arkansas has 13 centers, Robinson said.
With state government in Missouri having other priorities, Robinson said the burden for building and staffing welcome centers in the future will rest with local governments.
Robinson suggested Cape Girardeau could seek funding from tourist destinations in the region to build and operate a welcome center.
The visitors bureau currently is housed in a building at the corner of Main Street and Broadway in the city's downtown. Knudtson said relocating the CVB could make room for needed parking at that corner.
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