City breaks ground on Common Pleas project

A ceremonial groundbreaking marked the official beginning of a rehaul and new construction at Cape Girardeau’s Common Pleas Courthouse and its annex, originally built as a Carnegie Library that formerly served as the city’s public library.

The two buildings will be remodeled, and a structure linking the two will be built, as will a parking garage, to eventually find new purpose as the Cape Girardeau City Hall.

Comments from project leaders were punctuated by the music of construction already underway in the courthouse Wednesday morning.

Mayor Bob Fox thanked voters who approved a capital improvement sales tax renewal, which funds numerous projects, including the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport and street repairs.

“We just cannot do these things without public support,” Fox said.

Phil Penzel, design-build contractor for the project and owner of Penzel Construction in Jackson, spoke of his personal connection to the project, noting that six generations ago, his family landed at Cape Girardeau from Germany in 1854, as the Common Pleas Courthouse was originally being built. Penzel learned of this fact shortly before the design-build team of Penzel Construction and design firm TreanorHL presented to the project’s selection committee.

“I believe that was the turning point for me to completely rethink how I wanted to do our presentation the next day,” Penzel said.

City officials, staff and design-build team representatives pose for a photo Wednesday during a groundbreaking ceremony.BEN MATTHEWS

Penzel noted the project is significant in his and in his company’s career, and he does not take the project lightly.

Of the team, Penzel said, “This is the third project we’ve been together on. We just completed the Cape [Girardeau] County Courthouse and Jackson police station together. I wanted to say, they’re amazing, I’m proud of them, and I’m proud to be part of this historic event.”

City manager Scott Meyer said the need to replace City Hall at the former Lorimier School on Independence Street has been evident for several years, but several ideas were rejected before ultimately, city staff decided to remodel and use the existing, historic structure at the Common Pleas Courthouse and Annex.

When the county government consolidated services in Jackson, Meyer said, city officials knew they would need to find a use for the buildings.

Deputy city manager Molly Mehner said this project will keep the seat of city government in downtown Cape Girardeau, where it has always been, and will unite two historic structures with a new structure that represents a forward-focused future, while delivering accessibility, security and functionality.

The courthouse project is slated to cost $12 million. Mehner said to demolish the present City Hall and build a new facility would have cost $19 million to $20 million, and there was public outcry against tearing down that building.

Added to that, the Common Pleas Courthouse has a deed restriction limiting it to public-use only.

A lot of work has gone into the project, Fox said, adding, “It will be something to behold when it’s finished.”