GSA CONSIDERING MANY SITES FOR FEDERAL BUILDING IN CAPE

Officials with the General Services Administration, which is set to spend $3.9 million for site acquisition and design of a new U.S. courthouse, are due to arrive in Cape Girardeau Sept. 25 for a public hearing not yet set.

The GSA is known to be examining a number of proposals for sites, including the block that includes historic houses at 313 and 323 Themis.

One proposal would involve razing the Marquette Hotel directly across the street from the existing federal building at 339 Broadway. The federal government would also buy up the entire square block west of the hotel.

That block includes the H&H Building, Concord Printing and property owned by Southeast Missouri State University, in addition to a church, an apartment building and a number of residences.

The federal government's plans call for a 72,000-square-foot courthouse, nearly three times the size of the existing federal building, which would be retained and renovated. The five-story building would house federal courts, the U.S. attorney's office and other federal law enforcement offices. Space for parking also is required.

The GSA initially has set the search boundaries at Sprigg Street on the west, Spanish Street on the east, Independence Street on the south and Bellevue Street on the north.

Another possible site is the block bounded by Middle and Frederick streets on the east and west, respectively, and Themis and Independence on the north and south, respectively. A stumbling block is the presence of the Cape River Heritage Museum at 538 Independence. The museum occupies an historic firehouse.

One idea the agency is looking at is barely outside those boundaries, the block beginning at the corner of Independence and Frederick, south to Merriwether, east to Middle and west to Frederick.

Realtor Thomas L. Meyer has stated his preference for the block starting at the corner of Sprigg and Broadway, north to Bellevue and Sprigg and east to Bellevue and Frederick.

The GSA reportedly already has rejected the idea of building on the site of the current Cape Civic Center on Broadway.

Lloyd Smith, aide to U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson, said the congressman has no preference in sites and bows to the GSA's expertise in the matter. "The congressman fully realizes the GSA knows more about construction and locating of a federal building than he does," Smith said.

Smith said the GSA is still concentrating at this point on downtown areas. "Whether any of those sites prove to be economically feasible is still an open matter," he said.

The federal government has the power to take property through eminent domain, but those familiar with past government practices say it would not ordinarily claim multiple properties in that manner.

According to Smith, the GSA would like to lock in a location within the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.