CHAMBER WILL STUDY FEDERAL BUILDING SITES

The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce will organize a committee to study possible sites for a new federal building.

The group will report its findings concerning the economic advantages and disadvantages of various sites to the city and the General Services Administration, the federal agency in charge of building construction.

The chamber's board voted to form the committee Tuesday after a group pushing the site of the old St. Francis Hospital on Good Hope for the federal building asked the chamber for an endorsement.

"I'd hate to say we will just look at the St. Francis site because that is not the case," said John Mehner, chamber president. "The board decided to look at all the available sites."

Last Thursday during a public meeting in Cape Girardeau, GSA officials indicated two blocks on Themis street behind the existing federal building at Fountain and Broadway would be eliminated from consideration due to residents' resistance. An official decision is expected before the end of the month.

During the meeting several local residents suggested alternative sites, including old St. Francis Hospital.

Eight blocks -- including the two eliminated -- in an 15-block downtown area comprise the short list of possible sites identified by the GSA.

Although the St. Francis site is not in that region, Tom Walker, assistant regional administrator for public-building services with the GSA, said at the meeting "that is not a make or break item."

However, Walker said federal policy is to put buildings in downtown areas and that region is not downtown as defined by the city. If it wishes, the city can redraw its boundaries to put the site in the downtown area.

Dennis Meyer, president of the Haarig Area Development Association, said supporters want the GSA and the city to examine potential advantages of the St. Francis cite before summarily dismissing it.

"All we are trying to do is get the GSA and the city to acknowledge that the St. Francis site is a viable site," Meyer said. "Right now it seems that neither is willing to recognize that."

Meyer said putting the federal building on the St. Francis site would simultaneously eliminate a longstanding eyesore and revitalize the area of Cape Girardeau that most needs it. That block, near four major thoroughfares, would also be more accessible to traffic than Broadway, which already is clogged, supporters claim.

Other sites suggested at the meeting included two on Broadway near the existing federal building -- the block occupied by the H&H Building and that occupied by the vacant Marquette Hotel -- and the property next to City Hall on Independence where the former recycling center sits.

Mehner is contacting interested persons to participate on the committee and hopes it can get to work as soon as possible. Only people who do not have a vested interested in a particular site are being asked to serve. "They have got to be people who don't have a building to sell," Mehner said.