Local developers, investors announce plans for Marquette, H-H Building in downtown Cape

A local investor group announced plans Tuesday to redevelop the vacant Marquette Hotel into a high-tech hub for startup technology companies and turn the H-H Building and the adjacent Marquette Center into a Marriott “Courtyard” Hotel with a casual-dining restaurant on the ground floor.

The $20 million development involves 145,000 square feet of historic renovation, lead developer Jeffrey Maurer of Mayson Capital Partners of Cape Girardeau said. When completed, the Marquette Tech District is expected to draw 200 to 300 workers and guests daily to Cape Girardeau’s downtown, he said.

“I think it is a pretty cool project,” Maurer said before Tuesday’s news conference, held in the Marquette Hotel lobby. About 75 people attended the news conference, including local officials and business leaders.

Broadway and the H-H Building are seen from the balcony of the Marquette Tower on Friday, April 8, 2016, in Cape Girardeau.LAURA SIMON ~ lsimon@semissourian.com

Economic boost

Before the news conference, Maurer said he hopes this development will create the same type of economic and cultural lift to downtown as Isle Casino Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri State University’s River Campus.

In addition to private investment and financing from Southern Bank of Poplar Bluff, Missouri, the development group plans to seek historic preservation tax credits and tax-increment financing.

Maurer said his father, Jim, and Mark and Scott Rhodes also are involved as developers in the project.

“This is not a spec project. We believe we have the businesses that can make this viable from the beginning and going forward for a long time,” he told the crowd.

“We view development as a means to an end. We want to be the operators and be involved in the businesses that are in our projects,” Maurer said. “We are using local investors, a local bank and local contractors, and the businesses that are going to be in the building are local.”

Maurer said the development is just at the beginning stage.

“There are still some serious hurdles we have to clear,” he said.

One of those hurdles is obtaining tax-increment financing, Maurer said after the news conference.

TIF district

The Cape Girardeau City Council will consider approving the TIF development at its meeting Monday, Maurer said.

The buildings, which are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, are in a newly created tax-increment financing (TIF) district, established by the city council earlier this year.

Such districts are designed to provide financial incentives to redevelop properties by reinvesting the increased tax revenue generated by the project to aid the development, usually for infrastructure.

Without such incentives, the project would not be viable, Maurer said before the news conference.

The new hotel would have about 96 rooms.

It would mark the first hotel in Cape Girardeau’s downtown in nearly 50 years, Maurer said.

The former Marquette Hotel, now known as the Marquette Tower, most recently served as office space for state agencies.

Maurer said he had hoped to redevelop the Marquette Tower into a hotel, but it wasn’t large enough for a modern hotel. It also doesn’t have sufficient ceiling space for a heating and cooling system for a hotel, he added.

High-tech hub

Maurer said redeveloping the former hotel at 338 Broadway into a high-tech hub would “reframe who will come downtown” by attracting computer-savvy entrepreneurs.

Plans call for bringing in fiber optics and other high-speed infrastructure needed for high-tech companies to develop.

Such businesses, he said, need reliable and fast internet connections.

As part of the project, access to free, public Wi-Fi will be made available throughout downtown.

Codefi, a co-working center and business community housed across the street in the old federal courthouse building, plans to set up shop on three floors of the Marquette Tower.

Maurer said he already is in negotiations with several entities.

If things go as planned, he said he could have about 75 percent of the space in the Marquette Tower occupied upon opening.

James Stapleton, a founding member of Codefi, said there is a growing need for technology software companies.

“We know these are the kinds of companies leading economic expansion,” Stapleton said.

Codefi would enjoy more space by moving to the Marquette Tower, he said.

Maurer said the investment group plans to have two restaurants in the building, including a coffee bar on the first floor and a restaurant and bar on the top floor, where guests would have access to the outdoor balcony with its view of the Mississippi River and the downtown.

The group wants to renovate the historic hotel lobby, which would include making the fireplace functional. The goal, he said, is to make it a social gathering space.

“We view this as a special place where people can hang out during the day,” he said while touring the building last week.

The development group hopes to close on the real estate this month.

The Marquette Tower could be occupied by fall, Maurer said.

Downtown hotel

The Marriott hotel could open by late summer or fall 2017, he said.

Plans call for constructing hotel rooms in the former spacious offices in the five-story H-H Building at 400 Broadway and the adjacent, warehouse-like space in the two-story Marquette Center at 221 N. Fountain St.

The project includes razing an exterior smokestack behind the H-H Building, Maurer said before the news conference.

A connecting way would be constructed to link the two buildings, while some of the space between the two structures would be turned into a courtyard.

The dark woodwork in the H-H Building’s corridors would be preserved as part of the renovations.

The entrance to the hotel would be on the west side of the H-H Building.

Maurer said he had obtained a license to build a new Marriott hotel near Interstate 55, but decided the downtown location offered a better option.

The hotel would attract visitors in part because of its proximity to Southeast Missouri State University, River Campus, Isle Casino Cape Girardeau and Southeast Hospital, Maurer said.

In addition, the hotel would draw visitors because of its historic nature, he said.

There is sufficient parking behind the Marquette Tower and adjacent to the H-H Building to serve the development, Maurer said.

“We hope that this is but a first step in what is an exciting journey for all of us in downtown Cape Girardeau,” Maurer said of the project.

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Pertinent address:

338 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

400 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, Mo.

221 N. Fountain St., Cape Girardeau, Mo.