Dobbins: No hotel, but SEMO still planning to expand housing

Sometimes ideas turn out to be only ideas. Southeast Missouri State University president Dr. Ken Dobbins put a kibosh on his idea for a hotel near the River Campus on Monday night when he announced to the Cape Girardeau City Council that plans are changing for university foundation-owned acreage along the Fountain Street extension.

What will be built there by fall 2014, according Dobbins' description, will still do most of the things a hotel would have done for the university. A 150- to 175-bed residence hall will include around 30,000 square feet of performance space and classrooms to allow for expansion of growing academic programs.

Dobbins introduced the hotel idea last spring and said in March he was hopeful the university could begin releasing proposals to attract a development partner to help form physical and financial plans by the end of the spring semester. The intent, and the best-case scenario, he said, was that the university would only provide the land on which to build the hotel and guarantee student beds full for most of the year.

"We've been looking at a variety of options for that hotel concept," Dobbins told council members, "and we've decided go to a model similar to what we normally build on our campus."

He said he thinks there is still a possibility student rooms could be used in the summer to provide accommodations for people attending events and conferences in the city, especially because of the location's proximity to the Shawnee Sports Complex. He did not specify a reason for the change of plans.

No plans for funding the construction are yet in place, according to Dobbins and the university's vice president of finance and administration, Kathy Mangels. Mangels said the university would look at using bonds to fund the project.

The new residence hall would be built on two acres on the west side of the Fountain Street extension, with associated parking in a lot constructed on the east side.

The university will seek bids this month for the $24.5 million, 262-bed, bond-funded residence hall it will build north of the Seabaugh Polytechnic Building. That residence hall is scheduled to be completed in fall 2013. The recently named Merick Hall west of Houck Stadium opened in August 2009 and cost $23.7 million.

Growing enrollment with more students living on campus have caused overcrowded residence halls in recent years, especially in fall semesters. In fall 2011, the university enrolled 11,510 students and assigned housing contracts to 3,017. Fifty upperclassmen began living in Candlewood Suites hotel in August, and that number will grow to 100 this fall, according to university officials. Deferred enrollment for students living outside a 50-mile radius of the campus has also been put into place for the past two fall enrollment periods.

Dobbins said Monday he expects another freshman class of 1,900 this fall. Undergraduates are required to live on campus for their first four semesters unless they qualify for certain exemptions.

University officials expect the total student population to hit 12,000 by 2014.

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