CAPE WEST BUSINESS PARK CONTINUES FAST-PACED GROWTH

*A three-story Hampton Inn set to open this spring.

*A 97,000-square-foot Target store set to open in August.

A 160-acre tract of what was once farmland has proven a fertile field for economic growth in Cape Girardeau.

Since a 160,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter opened in 1992 in the Cape West Business Park, the area has harvested a bumper crop of businesses.

Today, the business park south of Route K and west of Interstate 55 is home to about 10 businesses. They include the sprawling, Lowe's Home Center, as well as McDonald's and Hardee's restaurants, a Shell service station and convenience store, Bluff City Beer warehouse, a Stone Mountain Carpet outlet, a regional Post Office service center, a supply building for Drury Inns, and a Drury Suites motel.

The motel, with a five-story atrium, opened in July 1994. Several of the other businesses also opened last year. The two restaurants opened within the last couple of months.

Drury Inns is constructing a three-story Hampton Inn just south of Drury Suites. It is scheduled to open this spring.

A 97,000-square-foot Target store also is under construction near the I-55 and Route K intersection. It is scheduled to open in August.

To the public, all the development seems to have occurred overnight. But Dennis Vollink says years of work went into laying the groundwork for the business park. Vollink is president of Drury Southwest Development Co.

The business park is being developed by Drury Southwest, based in Cape Girardeau, and Druco, headquartered in St. Louis.

"People see it as being quick, but from our viewpoint we put a lot more time into the business park," he said.

The developers began buying pieces of the property 15 years ago. Dirt work began in 1989. "We had about two years of site preparation."

Vollink said the Drury family wanted to invest in their hometown of Cape Girardeau.

"It has definitely been a long-term project, and there has been a lot of investment out there," he said.

Putting in utilities such as water and sewer lines was the key to marketing the Cape West Business Park, Vollink said.

Larry Hasselfeld, vice president of Druco, said, "We have put a lot of money into getting the infrastructure and the site ready to go."

About 60 acres have been developed in the 160-acre tract. The south end is being developed for warehouses and office buildings, while the north end near Route K is being developed as a retail area.

Hasselfeld said the park has proved popular with businesses because it offers good visibility and has easy access to I-55.

"It has really turned out to be an excellent location," he said.