Council OKs conference center permit, funding for industrial recruitment

The Cape Girardeau City Council zeroed in on economic development Monday night, approving a special-use permit to pave the way for construction of a new hotel and conference center and inking a new contract with the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association, also known as Magnet.

Under the new contract, the city will pay more than $267,000 to help fund the economic development organization over the next four years. The city will contribute $66,315 in 2016 and $66,978 in each of the three succeeding years.

Mayor Harry Rediger said during a study session before the regular meeting "Magnet is a great investment for our city." He described the industrial recruitment organization as an "economic development machine."

John Mehner, Cape Girardeau Area Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, said the group this year has been involved in 10 new industrial projects, involving a total of 199 jobs and $49 million in investment. The recruitment effort is headquartered in the chamber building on Mount Auburn Road. Cape Girardeau County's unemployment rate in October was 3.9 percent, Mehner said, down from 5.5 percent in January 2015.

Councilman Mark Lanzotti said, "We are having a great deal of success. It's like everybody has their oars rowing in the right direction."

The council breezed through a public hearing about the special-use permit for the hotel and conference center development, then unanimously approved the permit for the Drury Southwest project. No one spoke in opposition at the brief public hearing.

The project needed a special-use permit because the facility would exceed the five-story limit for buildings in a C-2 commercial district. Plans call for construction of a hotel, conference center and restaurant at 3351 Percy Drive on the city's west side. The proposed hotel would stand eight stories tall.

Drury Southwest plans to build the conference center and hotel at the location of a two-story Drury Lodge, which is slated for demolition early next year. The 168-room hotel and conference center is scheduled to open in late spring or early summer 2017.

The conference center would be funded largely with private money. Participating hotel owners have volunteered to pay 1 percent of their hotel revenue for up to 20 years or until their combined contribution with the city totals $6.25 million, whichever comes first. The city is slated to provide $2.45 million for the project. In addition, Drury Southwest will contribute at least $4.75 million toward the project.

At the regular meeting, the mayor thanked Drury Southwest officials for the "partnership we have been able to forge together."

He added, "It will be a great project for our city."

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Pertinent address:

401 Independence St., Cape Girardeau, MO

3351 Percy Drive, Cape Girardeau, MO

1267 North Mount Auburn Rd., Cape Girardeau, MO