Jackson's road of opportunities

Some time in the year 2006, Jackson will have a brand-new front door.

The East Main Street interchange at Interstate 55 will be the new entrance in town.

And while the main purpose of the interchange is to improve traffic in this rapidly growing city, it is only the skeleton of what many hope will be the town's new commercial branch.

The interchange almost certainly will mean new development. There is no doubt that the multimillion-dollar interchange -- placed between the best and fastest-growing neighborhoods in Jackson and Cape Girardeau -- has plenty of development potential.

Property owners within the project areas and city officials hold the keys to unlock that potential.

The new East Main Street will cut through farm land, currently uninterrupted by concrete, homes, businesses or industry. The canvas is clean.

But what is to come of the surrounding land? How will the area develop and how will the city grow?

Right now those questions have few specific answers. Some land owners and city officials have their own ideas. Others don't have a clue. In the coming years, decisions will be made concerning zoning regulations and road access. These decisions will directly affect the business climate and the aesthetic personality of the New Part of Town.

There are already some answers as to what will surround the interchange. Southeast Missouri State University, which owns three-fourths of the property around the interchange, has plans to develop technology businesses on the east side of the interstate.

On the Jackson side of I-55, Southeast owns another large piece of land. Depending on the demand, the technology businesses may spill over onto Jackson's side of the interstate, said Dennis Roedemeier, Southeast's executive director of the Innovative Center, which will help new technology businesses get off the ground.

The last tract of land surrounding the interchange is owned by Warren Place L.L.C., a sister organization of Lorimont L.L.C., a real estate company owned by Cape Girardeau developer Earl Norman.

From the interchange, East Main Street will travel west through properties owned by Randy Reutzel, Warren Place, Douglas and Lois June Pender, Steven and Patti Jones and Thomas C. Johnson and Ruth Ann Johnson.

Reutzel's role

Because Reutzel's property lies between two Warren Place properties, Reutzel will play an important role in the overall development of the Main Street corridor.

Reutzel lives in Georgia near Atlanta. He bought the property many years ago from his parents after working on the Alaska pipeline just out of high school. He then attended Southeast, graduated from Purdue and now works for IBM.

Reutzel says he visits his hometown once or twice a year and is concerned about the aesthetic appearance of the city's proposed entrance.

Earlier this year, he sent a video to the city's board of aldermen and planning and zoning board on how other cities incorporated themes to match the city personalities. The professional video outlined many ways for commercial properties to be developed in ways that were attractive, like forcing developers to build their parking lots behind buildings and regulating the materials that can be used for the exterior of buildings.

"I just want people's first impression to be a good impression," Reutzel said in a telephone interview from Georgia. "This road will bring people right into the heart of Jackson, right to the courthouse. We have to do it right. Without a plan, you run the risk of commercial blight down the road. You only have one chance to do it right."

Reutzel said such stringent aesthetic development will take a tremendous amount of cooperation and planning.

Tom Kelsey, a real estate broker for Lorimont Place, said the development firm would be willing to entertain those suggestions.

"We would certainly look at anything that would be reasonable," he said.

Kelsey said there has already been interest in the available property at the interchange and on the proposed East Main Street, although he declined to give any specifics.

"What we envision on the frontage of East Main would be commercial properties of some sort, more service-oriented and retail, that kind of thing," he said. "There is quite a bit of depth in the back and it remains to be seen whether that will be residential or commercial. In terms of selling the property, nobody really gets excited until they see the concrete being poured. That's generally how this process works."

Some residents really don't know anything about how the process works. The city of Jackson earlier this month sent packets of information to each of the five affected property owners within the current boundaries. It was the first process in acquiring right of way. The property owners will not be assessed for the road -- the $3.5 million for the construction of East Main Street will come from the transportation tax fund -- so public works director Rodney Bollinger is hoping that the property owners will donate the right of way property. In exchange, property owners get a road that could dramatically increase their property value.

Jackson real estate agent Gerald McElrath said it's too early to tell how much the property along the new artery might be worth. He estimated there might be an increase of 10 percent in the property's value.

Patti Jones, who owns about 15 acres of property south of the proposed Main Street and east of Oak Hill Road, has no idea what she and her husband, Steven, might do with the property.

"We built a house here 10 years ago," she said. "We have no plans at this time."

The property along the new stretch of East Main Street will have to be annexed. And annexed property automatically enters the city with the most strict residential zoning. The city will play a key role in deciding what will go where, considering the board of aldermen approves zoning changes.

Boulevard style

The board of alderman has already made one key decision in that the road leading into the city will be boulevard style -- divided by a grassy median. The board made the decision for two reasons: aesthetics and the ability to restrict the number of left turns so there won't be any "suicide lane" situations.

Jackson Mayor Paul Sander said there has not been any discussion by the board regarding the development around East Main.

"But my guess and hope would be that there would be substantial commercial development at the interchange itself," he said. "I would expect that to come back to town for a ways and delete down into a multifamily residential area. Maybe there will be some office complexes, doctors offices, and that kind of thing the closer it gets to the city."

The interchange lies between some of the most impressive neighborhoods in both Jackson and Cape Girardeau. In Jackson, the East Main Street interchange will allow easier access to those in the Bent Creek area. In Cape Girardeau, the city plans to build a route that would lead into the west side of the city, where many expensive homes have been built in the last several years.

Roedemeier, who has been keeping a close eye on the interchange project for the university, is familiar with how developers work.

He said residents shouldn't worry too much about developers building structures that would decrease surrounding property values.

"Developers want to match the quality of buildings surrounding the area, not go the other way," he said. "I think that is what will happen here. I'd bet a cup of hot coffee and a piece of pie on that one."

bmiller@semissourian.com

243-6635