Cape's Esquire Theater 'endangered' again

A familiar landmark is back on the Cape Girardeau Historic Preservation Commission Endangered Buildings list.

The venerable Esquire Theater, 824 Broadway, has taken its place among 23 other structures on the commission’s 2020 list.

Redevelopment projects for the 73-year-old movie house have come and gone in the past decade.

“Obviously, it’s an old building in very bad shape,” said John Mehner, president and chief executive officer of the Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce.

The Esquire opened Jan. 21, 1947, with 1,300 in attendance. On the screen for the theater’s debut was Bing Crosby’s “Blue Skies.”

With an art deco design, the Esquire closed originally in October 1984.

It reopened briefly in 1985 showing second-run movies before shuttering its doors.

The theater, owned by Phil Brinson, has been the target of two rehab proposals.

In October 2011, John Buckner of Ironton, Missouri, proposed a $2.7 million restoration, promising to turn the landmark into an independent film house in time for its 55th anniversary Jan. 21, 2013.

Buckner did not follow through.

Last year, a group led by Cara Naeger of Bloomsdale, Missouri, gave up on a plan to use tax increment financing.

“The amount of capital needed ... did not allow us to move forward,” Naeger told the Southeast Missourian at the time.

The Esquire was placed on the city’s endangered list in 2012, moving to the “watch” list in 2018.

This week, the Esquire moved back to endangered status.

“There are a number of buildings like (the Esquire),” opined Mehner.

“The theater will be an extreme challenge,” added Mehner, “a challenge that to this point has been insurmountable.”

Mehner said rehabbing old Cape Girardeau buildings is not impossible, pointing out the successful renovation efforts on the downtown Marquette and H&H buildings, respectively.

Two other buildings joined the Esquire anew in 2020 as endangered: a home at 629 Good Hope St. and the former May Greene School, a 100-year old structure on South Ranney Avenue.

The full 2020 list — and lists from previous years — may be viewed on the Historic Preservation Commission’s page on the City of Cape Girardeau website: www.cityofcapegirardeau.org/cms/one.aspx?portalId=5730427&pageId=5990643.