Development news

City gets grant for street work

Gov. Matt Blunt recently announced a Community Development Block Grant to extend Fountain Street from Morgan Oak to William streets in Cape Girardeau. He also announced $172,270 in tax credits for the Discovery Playhouse's Southeast Missouri Children's Museum.

The Fountain Street extension is planned to continue the divided, pavestoned street that currently connects Morgan Oak Street with Highway 74 just west of the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge. The city is seeking an additional grant of $390,000 through the Missouri Department of Transportation to cover the costs of the street.

The plan does not include connecting Fountain Street from William Street to the existing Fountain Street at Independence Street. To do so, the corridor would have to cross land occupied by city hall, and city manager Doug Leslie said it is not in city plans. The city's portion of the costs would be paid through the half-cent transportation sales tax approved by voters in 2005.

The Discovery Playhouse currently operates in West Park Mall. The tax credits, available under the Neighborhood Assistance Program, will help renovate the old Goddard Grocer Co. building at 101 William St.

Cape Restaurant Supply rises from ashes

Cape Restaurant Supply is on its way to being headquartered at its original location on South Frederick Street this summer, with less competition to boot.

Owner Ted McClellan, who has been operating the supply business from another location since the August 2004 fire, was determined to rebuild the facility on the former property.

A few months ago, McClellan bought Lohmann Restaurant Supply on Broadway. Owner Dan Lohmann, 51, was called to duty in the Middle East and leaves in July. He knew he couldn't operate a business while overseas, so he asked McClellan if he'd take over his clientele.

McClellan agreed to lease the building until October and buy all the equipment in it. For now, McClellan's son-in-law, Rusty Holliday, is operating Lohmann Restaurant Supply. They are working on selling all the equipment, and whatever remains will be moved into the South Frederick Street building once it's complete in a couple of months.

McClellan has been running his restaurant supply business out of 601 Morgan Oak St. since the facility burned down across the street. The fire was said to be one of the biggest the area has ever seen, according to city manager Doug Leslie.

The state fire marshall's office ruled the fire an accident. It was never determined what caused the five-alarm fire because the damage was so severe, but Cape Girardeau firefighters suspected it was the result of a backdraft.

Cape Restaurant Supply was established in 1985. It supplies restaurant equipment to businesses anywhere within 150 miles of the Cape Girardeau location. McClellan also owns Hobart Sales and Service, a restaurant equipment repair shop on Good Hope Street.

Ste. Genevieve hospital gets facelift

STE. GENEVIEVE, Mo. -- Work is underway to create a new entrance to Ste. Genevieve County Memorial Hospital, off Highway 61 north of State Route 32.

Ste. Genevieve County Memorial Hospital's multi-million dollar expansion project is moving forward, with work started recently on the construction of a new entrance to the hospital campus.

The work will create an entrance off Highway 61, to the north of the Highway 61/Highway 32 intersection. Approval for the project was secured earlier this spring from the Missouri Department of Transportation.

The primary focus of the expansion is the creation of a new 7,000 square foot emergency department, which will include eight treatment rooms, two trauma rooms, a triage room, a large waiting area, and vending machine room.

In addition to the work on Highway 61 and an earlier project to construct a new employee parking lot, relocation of the hospital heli-pad is slated, along with construction of a temporary emergency room entrance. The new access to the ER will be through the radiology department.

Hospital officials say there will be no interruption of services during construction. The project is slated for completion by the spring of 2008.

The Ste. Genevieve County Commission has issued more than $11.6 million in bonds to finance the project.

MoDot announces traffic plan for work on I-55

To build the new Interstate 55 interchange for Jackson and Cape Girardeau, the Missouri Department of Transportation is going to have to dig a hole through the highway.

While that construction is underway, four lanes of traffic will be narrowed to two and funneled on to the portions of the new interchange that will evenutally be the on- and off-ramps to LaSalle Avenue on the Cape Girardeau side of the highway. And with the congestion sure to accompany that narrowing, MoDOT has a plan to route traffic around any accidents that occur, project engineer Andrew Meyer told the Cape Girardeau County Commission.

If an incident causing delays is expected to last less than a half-hour, Meyer told the commission, motorists on the highway will wait for it to clear. But if the incident lasts longer, traffic will be rerouted onto Highway 61 through Jackson, and, for longer blockages, the highway on-ramps leading into the construction zone will be blocked.

MoDOT hopes to have the southbound interstate lanes re-opened by November, he said.

During an accident, as traffic backs up, MoDOT will make an escalating response, Meyer said. No traffic that would travel through the work zone will be allowed onto the interstate during backups.

That means traffic could be diverted off I-55 and southbound on-ramps closed at Fruitland -- exit 105 -- or as far north as Oak Ridge -- exit 111. Northbound traffic could be blocked from entering the interstate at Center Junction -- exit 99 -- or at Route K -- exit 96 -- in Cape Girardeau.

In an extreme case, northbound traffic could be diverted onto Highway 61 as far south as exit 93, Meyer said.