COURTHOUSE SITE TOPIC OF HEARING; CHAMBER OF COMMERCE WANTS SITE SEARCH BROADENED

Carl Gross remembers when old St. Francis hospital was in operation and the surrounding area was a rock-solid neighborhood.

"When we first moved here, this was a real nice neighborhood," said the 76-year-old Gross. That was 40 years ago.

Gross and his wife live in a white frame house at 321 S. Ellis in the shadow of the now vacant and vandalized old St. Francis hospital.

The neighborhood has deteriorated over the years. Gross said they might consider moving, if the price is right.

Their house is one of five along Ellis and Morgan Oak whose back yards adjoin the old hospital site.

The Haarig Area Development Association -- a group of businessmen in the Good Hope and Sprigg streets area -- wants the brick hospital building and the five houses torn down to make room for a new federal courthouse.

The block is bounded by Good Hope on the north, Ellis on the east, Pacific on the west and Morgan Oak on the south.

Another business group, the Downtown Merchants Association, would prefer the north side of the 400 block of Broadway, diagonally across the street from the existing Federal Building.

The federal government has indicated it doesn't want a site such as the old St. Francis hospital block, which is outside of the immediate downtown area.

But the board of directors of the Cape Girardeau Chamber thinks the General Services Administration should widen its site search to include the old hospital site at 825 Good Hope. The board, however, stopped short of endorsing a site.

The Cape Girardeau City Council also might advise the GSA.

But first, the government agency will hold a public hearing to give residents an opportunity to comment. The hearing will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.

Mayor Al Spradling III said he doesn't know if the hearing will prompt the council to recommend a specific site.

If the comments at the hearing focus on two sites, the council may recommend the GSA consider both sites, the mayor said.

The Cape chamber of commerce board recommended last week that the GSA not only expand its search area to include the old hospital site, but also consider the impact on property taxes and only buy property from willing sellers.

Board members said if thriving businesses in a block are razed for a courthouse, property taxes won't be collected in that block because the federal government is exempt from such taxes.

Dennis Meyer, Haarig group president, said site in the 400 block of Broadway generates about $13,000 to $14,000 annually in county and city property taxes. In contrast, the old St. Francis hospital block generates about $1,000 each year in property taxes, tax records show.

But David Knight of the Downtown Merchants Association said it is wrong to look only at the tax issue.

For one thing, businesses that would be razed aren't likely to move outside the city limits. They might also relocate to another site in the downtown area, Knight said.

More importantly, he said, it makes economic sense to have the new courthouse close to the existing Federal Building to allow for close coordination between government offices.

Long-term operating costs should be considered in selecting a site, not just the cost of buying the property, Knight said.

The Haarig group thinks a new courthouse on the old St. Francis hospital site would invigorate the neighborhood.

They also insist it would be far less costly to purchase, perhaps $200,000 for the houses and the vacant hospital.

The old hospital is in the estate of the late Peter Kern of Denton, Texas. The Kern family has indicated it would sell the building for $25,000 cash and back taxes. Meyer estimated the back taxes total about $13,000.