Development project centers on three Cape Girardeau downtown buildings

A local investor group is scheduled to announce a Cape Girardeau downtown redevelopment project Tuesday involving the Marquette Hotel building, the H-H Building and the adjacent Marquette Centre.

The Marquette Hotel and Marquette Centre are vacant.

The H-H Building has only a few tenants, including the Cape Girardeau Convention & Visitors Bureau.

All three structures are on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Broadway and North Fountain Streets Historic District.

The Himmelberger and Harrison Building, better known as the H-H Building, and the Marquette Hotel also are recognized individually on the National Register.

The structures are in a tax-increment-financing district that provides economic incentives to redevelop properties.

The Marquette Hotel, now called the Marquette Tower, sits on the northeast corner of Broadway and Fountain Street.

The H-H Building and the Marquette Centre are just north of Broadway, on the west side of Fountain Street.

Local landmark

The old Marquette Hotel, a Broadway landmark that opened Nov. 17, 1928, once was considered one of the finest hotels in the Midwest.

Local historian Frank Nickell of the State Historical Society’s Cape Girardeau research center said the hotel copied the design of the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy, that was built in the 13th century.

Michelangelo’s statue of David stood in the lobby of the building in Florence for more than 300 years, Nickell said.

The Marquette Hotel stood vacant for decades after it was shut down by the Missouri Division of Health in July 1971 for safety violations.

But outwardly, its Italian-style architecture, terra cotta facings and balconies presented a visible reminder of its once-elegant past.

In its heyday, the Marquette Hotel hosted a number of famous visitors, including St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Dizzy Dean; the Harry James Band; the Guy Lombardo Band; Eleanor Roosevelt; Harry Truman when he was a senator; and “Tarzan” author Edgar Rice Burroughs.

“It was a remarkable place,” Nickell said, adding the hotel hosted everything from fancy banquets to political rallies. “It was the social center of Cape Girardeau for a long time.”

The late Thad Bullock, who bought the building at 338 Broadway in December 1969, operated a piano salon in a first-floor corner of the structure for years. During that time, the building continued to deteriorate.

Its once-ornate lobby became a dusty storage room surrounded by walls of pealing plaster. The roof over the former hotel lounge leaked.

In 1974, the Cape Girardeau Public Library Board of Trustees considered but rejected a proposal to remodel the old hotel for use as a library.

In the mid-1970s, Southeast Missouri State University considered using the building for married-student housing.

Postcard: Marquette Hotel, northeast corner Broadway and Fountain Street. Undated.

In 1981, a Paducah, Kentucky, businessman announced plans to renovate the hotel into apartment units and build condominium units.

But the developer died before the project began.

Cape Girardeau City Council members complained about the structure in the mid-1980s, noting birds flew in and out of the building through broken windows.

In 2000, the vacant building was in such bad shape, city leaders at one point ordered it to be sold or torn down.

The future of the crumbling building remained in limbo until 2002, when Prost Builders of Jefferson City, Missouri, bought the former hotel and the Marquette Centre.

The hotel essentially was saved by an executive order from then-Missouri Gov. Bob Holden. The order required state agencies to locate their offices in downtown business districts as part of an effort to rehabilitate struggling areas.

Major renovation

The developer renovated the Marquette Tower and the Marquette Centre, a two-story brick structure at 221 N. Fountain St. just west of the old hotel.

The Marquette Centre, behind the H-H Building, was built in 1916 for use as a garage. An addition was built in 1937. It once was home to a Chevrolet dealership. In later years, it housed Southeast Missouri State University’s print shop.

Prost Builders reported spending $10 million on the development, aided by state and federal historic preservation tax credits.

The seven-story Marquette Tower became home to various state offices. For several years after the building reopened, the Marquette Tower was as much as 80 percent occupied.

In addition to offices, the building housed a restaurant and bar on the bottom floor. The top floor, which originally was the rooftop, hosted banquets.

But state agencies later moved out.

Faced with a lack of tenants, the Marquette Tower, Marquette Centre building and parking lots were sold in a foreclosure sale to Great Southern Bank of Springfield, Missouri, in 2008.

In 2009, a Springfield-based development company, G&S Holdings, bought the properties. But the company fell on hard times after its managing officer was indicted by a federal grand jury for financial crimes, including embezzlement and bank fraud.

Great Southern Bank again owns the two properties after claiming them in a foreclosure sale last year.

H-H Building

The H-H Building, built in 1907-1908, is a five-story, red brick, H-shaped structure at 400 Broadway. It was the first steel-reinforced structure erected in Cape Girardeau, according to National Register documents.

Now largely vacant, the building once served as a commercial hub for Cape Girardeau. It housed the main offices of Himmelberger and Harrison Lumber Co. and the Little River Drainage District. John Himmelburger and W.H. Harrison were among the city’s major business leaders, helping in development of a shoe factory and a cement plant.

They also were instrumental in setting up the drainage district that was formed and managed to drain the swamplands of Southeast Missouri.

The Drainage District office was housed in the H-H Building from the opening of the structure in 1908 to 1999.

Cape Girardeau’s first radio station took to the airwaves from the fifth floor of the H-H Building in 1926.

The building housed a number of law offices, including the Oliver, Oliver & Waltz law firm. Judge I.R. Kelso, a prominent and influential lawyer, was one of the building’s first tenants.

Southeast Missouri Trust Co. also was headquartered in the building. Later, it was home to Sturdivant Bank.

In 2001, John and Jerrianne Wyman purchased the Himmelberger-Harrison Building.

mbliss@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3641

Development timeline

1908: H-H Building opens.

1916: Marquette Centre opens as a garage.

1937: Marquette Centre expands as home of a Chevrolet dealership.

December 1969: Thad Bullock buys the hotel.

July 1971: Missouri Division of Health shuts down the hotel because of safety violations.

June 1974: Cape Girardeau Public Library Board of Trustees rejects a proposal to remodel the hotel for use as a library.

Mid-1970s: Southeast Missouri State University considers using the building for married-student housing.

February 1981: Paducah, Kentucky, businessman announces plans to renovate the hotel into apartment units and build condominium units. But the developer dies before project can start.

2000: City orders the building be sold or torn down.

2001: John and Jerrianne Wyman purchase the H-H Building.

2002: Prost Builders of Jefferson City, Missouri, buys the former hotel and the Marquette Centre and develops former hotel for state offices.

2008: Great Southern Bank of Springfield, Missouri, buys Marquette Tower, formerly the hotel, and the Marquette Centre building and parking lots.

2009: G&S Holdings of Springfield buys the properties.

2015: Great Southern Bank reclaims the two properties in a foreclosure sale.

Pertinent address:

338 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

400 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

221 N. Fountain St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.