Fort D roof replacement contract awarded to Evrard Company

A project to preserve a vital piece of Cape Girardeau’s history may be completed as early as Memorial Day weekend, according to Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation director Julia Thompson.

Fort D has been exposed to the elements since its roof collapsed years ago. The landmark is the State of Missouri’s only surviving V-shaped, Civil War-era earthworks, and the site was named to the National Register of Historic Places on Aug. 1.

Plans to replace the roof at 920 Fort St. have been in the works for years. Tax revenue from the Century Casino Cape Girardeau created enough funding to design a new roof, but the complete project was not budgeted for until the renewal of the Parks and Recreation Stormwater Tax Fund in April 2018, Thompson said.

During Monday night’s Cape Girardeau City Council meeting, the contract for the project was awarded to the lowest bid of $125,800 from Evrard Company Inc. of Marion, Illinois.

Thompson said the repairs should be completed in time for the upcoming season of historical re-enactments that take place on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July and Labor Day.

“We’re really glad to be able to see this project get started, and we’ll look forward to doing a big ribbon cutting when its done,” Thompson said.

The project will consist of the installation of a new roof structure, plywood sheathing, insulation, EPDM roof membrane, flashing, new galvanized steel lintels at the exterior openings of the roof, new cast stone parapet copings and through-wall flashing, tucking pointing of exterior stone, and cleaning and applying water repellent to the exterior stone, according to an agenda report from Cape Girardeau city engineer Kelly Green.

Additional bids on the project included a $177,730 bid from Boulder Construction LLC, a $167,000 bid from Brockmiller Construction Inc. and a $130,000 bid from Kiefner Brothers Inc. All bids submitted came in under the engineer’s estimated cost of $199,000.