IN SEASON: BIG STEAKHOUSES, NEW HIGH SCHOOL, NEW BINGO HALL AMONG LATEST PROJECTS IN CAPE GIRARDEAU

Logan's Roadhouse is coming to Cape Girar-deau.

"We found our location -- 3000 block of William -- and we'll start building soon," said Ralph McCracken, a senior vice president with the Nashville, Tenn.-based restaurant.

Logan's, which operates 76 restaurants in a dozen states, is making its debut in Missouri with its Cape site.

It isn't the only steakhouse to target Cape Girardeau.

LongHorn Steakhouse, which has headquarters in Atlanta, has already applied for a permit to build a new steakhouse at 3089 William St.

LongHorn operates 138 restaurants in 15 states and Puerto Rico.

Logan's features an exterior look of rough-hewn cedar siding, corrugated metal and neon. Inside, patrons listen to Wurlitzer jukeboxes and eat peanuts, tossing the shells on the floor.

LongHorn features an interior decor of western design, with walls decorated with cowboy hats, boots & spurs, and western art.

The steakhouses are just the beginning:

* A new bingo hall is under construction at 823 N. Clark St.

* The permit for the new Cape Central Senior High School, 1000 S. Silver Sprigg Road, has been issued in the amount of $17.1 million.

* McDonald's at 1925 Broadway has filed plans for a new building.

* A 12-unit, one-bedroom apartment complex is under construction by Larry McCulley at 431 Olive St.

* A 15,000-square-foot strip mall center is under construction at 820 N. Sprigg. The new facility will include two levels, said Bob McDonald, who is building the center.

* Pavestone, a new manufacturer in Nash Road Industrial Park, is about ready for opening.

* Construction is continuing on the new 279-hole Dalhousie golf course, on a tract off Bloomfield Road.

There's more.

* An addition at Saxony Manor, 2825 Bloomfield.

* Both hospitals -- St. Francis Medical Center and Southeast Missouri Hospital -- have started construction or renovation of obstetrics units.

* New loading dock addition at Blair Industries, 2100 Themis St.

* Trinity Lutheran Church addition, 55 N. Pacific.

* Complete revamp for new Willy Jak's restaurant, which has opened in downtown Cape Girardeau.

And on and on.

Totals higher than last year

Construction totals, which were off to a slow start in January and February, escalated in March and April, and at $25 million are already well over half of the 2000 total.

Only 29 permits were issued in January, in the amount of $1.6 million, when construction was hampered by winter weather. Thirty-three permits totaling $2 million were issued in February, and 34 permits totaling $2.9 million were issued in March. Six of the new building permits were for one-family residential homes.

The biggest chunk of the 2001 totals to date is the giant $17 million permit issued for the new high school in early April. A construction schedule is being developed to ensure completion of the building before fall 2002, when the school is scheduled to open.

New home construction has picked up in Cape Girardeau. A total of 20 permits have been issued at the local permit office in the amount of $2.7 million, for an average of $135,000 each.

Although it doesn't count in the city's permit system, construction continues on the Mississippi River bridge here.

Meanwhile, construction totals are down statewide.

Missouri's March construction activity was down 16 percent from the previous March. Total state construction was down 17 percent for the first quarter.

First-quarter totals were at $1.6 billion, down from $1.9 billion totals from the same quarter a year ago, according to the F.W. Dodge Division of McGraw-Hill, an authority on the construction market. Dodge issues monthly totals in its Dodge Report.

The state's first-quarter nonresidential construction was $368,525,000, compared to $584,593,000 for the same period in 2000. That includes commercial, manufacturing, educational, religious, administrative, recreational, hotel, dormitory and other buildings.

Residential construction, which includes one- and two-family houses and apartments, for the quarter was $640,796,000, down from the $775,917,000 for the same period a year ago.

Nonbuilding construction, which includes streets, highways, bridges, river and harbor developments, airports and a few other projects, was on the plus side for 2001 at $590,534,000, about 5 percent over the same quarter a year ago.