Council tours River Campus construction

While a welcome center has yet to be funded by the state, that hasn't stopped the rest of the work.

Cape Girardeau City Council members eyed the developing River Campus with pride as they toured the construction site Friday.

"It is just going to be phenomenal," Mayor Jay Knudtson said as construction workers labored to transform the former Catholic seminary site into Southeast Missouri State University's new visual and fine arts campus.

The nearly $40 million project includes renovations to the historic brick seminary building and construction of a new 100,000-square-foot building that will include a 950-seat performance hall, a 200-seat theater, a regional history and art museum, and art studios.

Plans also call for a welcome center as part of the new construction. But university officials said they have yet to secure state funding for the 5,000-square-foot center.

Lisa Howe, project manager for the university's facilities management department, said it could be next summer before the state acts on the funding request.

But that hasn't stopped the rest of the construction.

Crews continue to build the concrete foundation for the new performance hall. The footings have been poured, said Carl Cooper, project manager for BSI Constructors of St. Louis. BSI is managing the construction work for the university.

Workers are putting a new, slate-like roof on the old seminary building. Construction also continues inside the L-shaped brick building. It's been gutted, and thick concrete walls have been erected to withstand a major earthquake.

The ancient bricks are anchored with metal support bars to the new concrete shell.

Crews drilled 41,000 holes in the brick walls to house metal support rods.

The former chapel in the building will become a recital hall. Cooper said the stained-glass windows will remain.

Renovations to the old seminary building should be completed by March 2007. The new theater/museum building should be largely completed by June 2007, construction officials said.

The university plans to open the River Campus for classes in August 2007.

Knudtson said he was impressed with all the work that's gone into the project.

State revenue, bonds, private donations raised by the university and city tax dollars are paying for the project. The Missouri Development Finance Board authorized the sale of more than $31 million in bonds for the project in 2003.

City tax money, state funding, and private donations will be used to pay off the bonds, according to school officials.

The city's share of the project cost is $8.9 million, funded with money from the city's motel and restaurant tax.

The River Campus project was just one of the stops the council made on its three-hour bus tour Friday.

The council also toured the new public works building and visited the East Main Street interchange and the developing Dalhousie area along Bloomfield Road west of Interstate 55.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123