LEGAL SNAG DELAYS CLOSE OF SEMINAR SALE TO GROUP

"Legal technicalities" kept the Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation from meeting Friday's deadline for closing on the St. Vincent's Seminary property, foundation president Loretta Schneider said.

"We're just working out the details," she said.

The foundation announced its purchase of the 20-acre seminary from the Provincial Administration of Vincentian Fathers of St. Louis at a press conference Jan. 14. A $50,000 down payment was made on the $700,000 purchase price, and a March 31 closing date was set.

At that time, foundation officials said they would seek bank loans for the remaining $650,000.

The foundation has spent the past three years attempting to buy the 152-year-old seminary, which during the 19th century trained almost every Catholic priest in the West.

Opening a museum and Civil War interpretive center is envisioned.

A city task force currently is exploring ways to provide long-term funding for the museum.

Schneider would not specify the nature of the legal technicalities that still are to be worked out.

"We're buying the property," she said." We don't want to jeopardize any of the negotiations we're involved in right now."

Both Walt Wildman, the foundation's consultant, and Thomas L. Meyer, the Realtor handling the transaction, referred all questions to Schneider.

A one-time real estate agent, Schneider said the deal should be finalized within 10 days to two weeks.

"Most of the time you set a closing date and it doesn't always end up on that day," she said.

The delay, she said, isn't a reflection on the foundation's ability to acquire the bank loans. "It's just taking a few days longer than we thought it would."

No formal extension has been given by the sellers, she said, and no penalty has been assessed for missing the deadline.

"If things are not to each party's satisfaction, you change the date of the closing," she said.