DRURY CO. PROPOSES SITE FOR NEW FED BUILDING

Suggesting a new federal courthouse should be nearer the interstate for better access, a developer has submitted a proposal to the General Services Administration for a site on Cape Girardeau's west end.

DSW Development Corp. of Cape Girardeau, a subsidiary of Drury Southwest Inc., proposed a four-acre site just west of Interstate 55 between Kell Farm Drive and Siemers Drive. The site is just north of Bloomfield Road.

The federal government, which has proposed to build the courthouse downtown in an area south of the Federal Building, had set a public hearing on the proposal for Thursday night in Cape Girardeau. But the federal budget impasse has delayed plans for the hearing.

Downtown residents and business leaders expressed disappointment that the GSA decided to cancel the hearing.

Randy Holdman of DSW said of the west end site: "We feel it is better located to serve the entire region. It is accessible to the interstate and visible from the interstate, and that is the area of Cape that has experienced the most growth."

DSW's proposal says the site would be more cost effective to the government because it wouldn't require demolition of structures or acquisition of properties from numerous owners as would be the case downtown.

Larry Westrich, director of leasing for DSW, declined to give a specific estimate on cost, but said the project would cost approximately 25 percent less at the DSW site than if built downtown.

Westrich said the GSA has confirmed that estimate.

There would also be no need for road upgrades of the site, Westrich said. The 450-by-390-foot site would provide plenty of space for parking and expansion, the company said.

It is the federal government's longstanding practice to put new federal buildings in downtown areas.

"If their requirements cannot be met downtown, we feel the site out here is an option the GSA needs to look at," said Westrich.

The west end land is part of an area set aside for a business park. It has not been designated for a specific use.

Jim Ogden of the GSA regional office in Kansas City said Thursday night's hearing has been postponed indefinitely. Ogden called off the hearing Tuesday morning as he and other federal workers readied for the shutdown of government operations.

DSW's proposal was submitted to the GSA over two months ago, said Westrich. But announcement of the proposal was not made by DSW until late Tuesday.

No one was more dismayed by cancellation of the public hearing than Pat and Charlie Mungle, 16 N. Middle. Their house is on the edge of a two-block residential neighborhood that the GSA has proposed for the federal courthouse.

The Mungles recently bought a new house. They want to sell their Middle Street home, although they would prefer it not be torn down for a courthouse. But uncertainty over whether the government might buy the block has made it impossible for them to sell.

"It leaves us with two house payments right now," said Pat Mungle. "Until the government makes up its mind, it tears up everybody else's lives."

Ogden said it could be January before the hearing is held.

The delay doesn't sit well with downtown merchant David Knight either. "It leaves people in the lurch as far as what they can do with their property," said Knight.

Knight is on an ad hoc committee of the Greater Downtown Merchants Association that has recommended the GSA build the courthouse on the north side of the 400 block of Broadway.

"I feel concern for those poor people who are stuck in the middle and don't know what to do," Knight said. "You've got a whole area of town that is scratching its head and wondering what is the deal."