Construction begins on new federal courthouse

Behind a chain-link fence, construction has begun on a new $49.3 million federal courthouse in Cape Girardeau that city officials say will transform the downtown landscape just as the landmark new Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge has.

Mayor Jay Knudtson said the project is "another major anchor" for the river city's downtown.

With the adjacent city hall, the area on Independence Street will be home to a "government complex," the mayor said.

Said Knudtson, "I just couldn't be more thrilled."

The contractor, PCL Construction of Denver, moved construction trailers onto the site in January and began initial site work.

"It is nice to see that ground cleared," Knudtson said.

Foundation work was scheduled to start this month, and construction could be completed by December 2005, federal officials said.

Open in April 2006

The new four-story courthouse, located west of city hall at Independence and Frederick, is scheduled to open in April 2006.

Knudston said the new courthouse will help revitalize the neighborhood. "Properties in the past that might not have been well maintained, all of a sudden they are either being sold or improved," he said.

"It is really a shot in the arm for that part of town," he said.

Federal officials said the 154,000-square-foot courthouse will include three courtrooms and 24 indoor parking spaces. A surface lot will provide 120 parking spaces.

The main entrance will be on the northeast corner of the building and will feature a four-story atrium topped by a domed roof.

A roundabout that will allow traffic to flow to the courthouse property or to the parking lot behind city hall.

The new building will house the 97 employees of the federal court and other related government agencies.

Jim Ogden, the deputy regional administrator for the federal General Services Administration in Kansas City, said the new courthouse is designed to withstand a terrorist attack. Security will be much improved over the existing Federal Building on Broadway, he said.

The new courthouse will sit back from the street and will be constructed to withstand an explosion, he said.

Federal Building uses

Ogden said the GSA hasn't decided what it will do with the 36-year-old Federal Building at 339 Broadway. The government could use it for nonjudicial federal offices. The offices of U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Cape Girardeau, and U.S. Sens. Kit Bond and Jim Talent of Missouri are housed there.

At a groundbreaking ceremony in November, Bond said the new courthouse will be more than a bigger and better home for the federal judicial system in Southeast Missouri. It also will "strengthen the foundation of justice" in the area, Bond said.

"Though it will be beautiful, it is merely steel, bricks and mortar," Bond told the more than 100 people who turned out for the ceremony. "What makes it so much more is its place in giving the people access to that third and equally important branch of government."

The project, which was in the planning stages for nearly a decade, was beset by design problems in recent years. The General Services Administration in 2001 canceled its contract with a Chicago architectural firm for design of the new courthouse after having already spent $500,000.

That design featured an atrium and skylight that would have been left open in the summer. The atrium wouldn't have been air conditioned. Emerson shot down the plan, saying she wouldn't vote to spend money to build a courthouse without air conditioning.

The final design, generated from a design competition and involving input from U.S. District Judge Stephen Limbaugh Sr. and Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce president John Mehner, features a red brick exterior designed to fit into the city's older downtown neighborhood.

"We've shown we know how to make a building the wrong way," GSA regional administrator Brad Scott said at the groundbreaking. "But now let's show we know how to make a building the right way. We plan on doing that."

The GSA is relying on a design-build process to construct the courthouse.

The process allows the contractor and an architect to work as a team under a single contract, eliminating the design and construction changes that can occur and drive up costs when decisions are spread among architects, engineers and construction contractors, GSA officials said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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