Crews are working on the new Drury Hotel

A breeze blows across the sixth floor of the Drury Plaza Hotel Cape Girardeau Conference Center. With no exterior walls to speak of and interior walls only partially completed, the October air flows freely.

But with construction crews working at a pace of around three weeks per floor, it will be mere months before the eight-floor hotel is structurally complete and under roof.

A crane operator works high above the sixth floor. His position appears precarious when viewed from the highway and even more so from the closer view of the roof.

"We have another crane operator who prefers to work by remote from below," project engineer Andy Schneider said. "But you get a different perspective from up here."

Workers poured concrete a foot deep Wednesday morning, completing the second half of the floor.

The concrete walls have been poured on part of the floor as well. But there is still much work to be done before the seventh floor can begin. And below, even more progress is made.

"Each time you go up one floor, you go backward in time about two or three weeks," Drury Southwest president Dennis Vollink said.

"The first floor, the mechanical's going in; the studs are going in. The second floor, the studs are there, and some mechanical is starting to come up."

By the fifth level, the flooring is complete, and the shoring is ready to come down.

"So you can really see the construction process really well," he said.

The building is made of solid concrete, poured into insulating concrete forms. This, Vollink said, creates a soundproof and fireproof building.

But the heavy material is not without its drawbacks.

Drury Southwest architects and designers took the weight of the material into consideration when considering earthquake safety.

"We don't build lightweight buildings," Vollink said. "We're not inside a steel building like a hospital, which hurts us a lot, since we have so much weight to shake back and forth in an earthquake, so because of that, our earthquake bracing is really extensive."

Shear walls 30 feet long and 16 inches thick on the ground floor help stiffen the building.

All the rooms and suites will be fully concrete except for those on the second floor, which will have some shared walls of lighter material.

"It gives the building room to breathe and move," project superintendent Tom Selsor said. "It makes this floor more flexible."

Air ducts and mechanics are visible on the lower floors of the hotel, and Schneider spoke proudly of the hotel's energy-recovery ventilation system, which will take fresh air from outside and remove exhaust air from inside the building.

"It keeps the air fresh," he said. "It takes from every room. A little air out from the bathrooms above the mirrors helps keep the mirrors from fogging up in the showers. And then we also have fresh air that's going back into the bedroom."

"We change all the air in the building about every 45 minutes," Vollink said. "It's a continuous, 24-hour-a-day operation."

Sixteen feet of locally sourced limestone will surround the bottom section of the building before transitioning into different materials.

And surrounding the building itself, a 500-car parking lot will sit above three buried stormwater- filtration systems.

The process of burying the stormwater storage and filtration systems is costly, "but it saves the land for parking and landscaping, too," Vollink said.

The hotel, when complete, will have 168 rooms, sized between 350 and 440 square feet. Glass elevators on the west side of the building, overlooking the highway and fields, will carry guests to and from the lobby.

"So after the first floor, you'll be able to look out," Vollink said, "and people will get to see the elevators going up and down from the outside."

The entryway to the hotel is on the east side of the building, away from the highway. The city has closed down Frontage Road, Vollink said, with the expectation traffic will travel down Farrar Drive and Mount Auburn Road.

Beyond the reception desk, a 6,000- to 7,000-square-foot lobby and dining area will greet guests, as well as meeting rooms that will open up into a conference center.

Said conference center also is underway, though the progress is not as noticeable, given the sheer height of the neighboring hotel.

The 29,000-square-foot hall will be available as one large space but also can be broken into multiple rooms, using hidden walls.

From floor to roof, the building stands at 26 feet tall.

At the same height stands the independently and locally operated restaurant that will connect to and serve the conference center, though the names of the restaurant and owners are being kept close to the chest for the time being.

New jobs are expected to come along with the new hotel and conference center.

Currently in the construction process, Drury Southwest has about 100 people working on the building, from permanent employees to subcontractors.

Many of the former Drury Lodge employees have remained with the company, intending to return to the former location when the new hotel opens.

The precise number of jobs the new business will create is not yet known, but last October, Drury officials predicted 80 additional people will be added to the staff, compared to the team it employed at Drury Lodge.

The conference center represents a partnership made in 2015 among Drury Southwest, the city and other local hotels.

Last year, hotel owners in the William Street and Interstate 55 area volunteered to pay 1 percent of their hotel revenue for up to 20 years or until their combined contribution with the city meets $6.25 million.

The 1 percent will take the form of an assessment added to room sales at each participating hotel.

Contribution from the city of Cape Girardeau is estimated at $2.45 million.

Per the 2015 agreement, the city will pay an amount equal to 1.5 percent of the revenue generated from the conference center for up to 20 years, or when their combined contribution with the hotel owners meets $6.25 million.

In addition, Drury Southwest agreed to make a private investment of at least $4.75 million for the conference center.

The city, without assuming operation costs or liabilities, is providing some assistance to the project outside the financial contribution, such as marketing the conference center through the Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) and buying and installing signs at intersections near the new conference center to inform the public of its location.

Drury has not yet started taking reservations on the hotel or conference center, though they plan to begin well in advance of the opening, expected in June or July.

"We've already seen interest in the conference center, with inquiries for state conventions, teens events and wedding receptions," Tammy Barani, executive assistant at Drury Southwest, said in an email. "Typically, the larger groups contact the CVB, and they forward requests to us, so we have already been working closely with the CVB and are excited to continue working together."

bbrown@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630

Pertinent address:

3351 Percy Drive, Cape Girardeau, Mo.