DOWNTOWN MALL: LOCAL ARCHITECT DREAMED OF PROJECT THAT NEVER HAPPENED

A Main Street Shopping Mall was on the drawing board for downtown Cape Girardeau long before plans were developed for West Park Mall.

The downtown renaissance was the dream of architect Thomas E. Phillips.

"It actually came to me in a dream," said Phillips of his 1970s concept for a covered mall to extend the length of Main Street from Broadway to Independence.

"It would have added a new look to the downtown shopping area," said Phillips, who thinks the downtown mall idea is still viable.

Twenty-five years ago, the downtown area was the major shopping center, said Phillips.

"You can imagine what a mall like this would have done to bring more people downtown," he said. "And I still think it could be a big attraction."

When Phillips' mall design appeared in the April 15, 1970, newspaper over a half-page spread, it started people talking.

The design featured a dome-like structure, 32 feet high. The dome structure above pre-cast concrete corridors, would have been of acrylic glazing, extending 16 feet above concrete corridors on each side. A skylight would have contained ventilation ducts along both sides that would have been motor-operated, letting air circulate inside the mall on hot days.

The skylight would be put in place over either structural steel beams or aluminum facings, along the entire lengths of the structure, Phillips said.

Inside decorations would have included shrubbery and water fountains, and streets would be of colored concrete or bricks or portions of both.

A couple of factors entered into the proposal, which eventually "died out."

"Traffic, or lack of it, was the big factor," said Cape Girardeau businessman Charles Hutson recently. "The mall concept would have erased one of our primary traffic arteries."

Hutson added that some merchants looked at other areas that had converted to downtown "pedestrian shopping" areas.

"We looked at towns in Arkansas, Michigan and Florida," said Hutson. "They didn't have covers over the streets, but they had closed some streets to traffic."

It didn't work.

A few months into the closed-traffic venture, traffic restrictions were removed in a number of towns, said Hutson.

Another big factor was fire protection in the area.

Fire department officials said there would be no way they could get to a burning building "down there."

Phillips explained then, and recently, that his drawing was only preliminary, and that when exact details were added, the design would not interfere with firefighting operations. (Sprinklers could be added to all downtown businesses.)

"This is among things that could have been worked out," he said.

Evelyn Boardman, a downtown business leader, questioned parking problems.

The design would do away with 86 parking spaces.

Again, some ideas were offered.

Parking spaces could be placed at either end of the mall, with a trolley operating the two-block length of the mall, transporting consumers.

And, one of two older structures could be taken town, for parking and access to parking areas.

"Build it and people will come," said Melvin Gateley, city councilman and mayor pro tem, recently. However, some new businesses would be needed.

At the time it was introduced in 1970, "we were looking a $330,000 project" said Phillips, and some downtown businesses indicated they were prepared to "chip in."

Today, the cost would almost triple the 1970 costs.

But with all the new materials and know-how, things could be done now that couldn't be done 28 years.

Hollywood, Fla., between Miami and Fort Lauderdale, likes its "new look." The 120,000-population "retirement" community was floundering 25 years ago, "lost in the shadow of Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

Although it was 10 years in the making, the Hollywood Renaissance, the brainchild of the Community Development Agency has resulted in 60 new businesses -- trendy bars, quirky restaurants, new gifts shops and others. The value of the redeveloped areas increased from $102 million to more than $175 million, over a five-year period.