MERCHANTS, OTHERS COMMIT TO CAMPUS; $1 MILLION PLEDGED TO SEMINARY PROJECT

Cape Girardeau's downtown merchants and property owners have pledged to raise $1 million for the River Campus project.

David Hutson, president of the Downtown Merchants Association, announced the pledge Thursday.

He said association members, residential property owners in the downtown area and a number of related organizations have agreed to raise $1 million.

He said he doesn't know how many people will contribute to the cause. He refused to disclose the names of the other organizations and said they wanted to remain anonymous at this point.

Hutson said he doesn't know how long it will take to raise the money to help Southeast Missouri State University develop a former Catholic seminary on the banks of the Mississippi River into a School of Visual and Performing Arts.

"We don't have a million dollars to give them. We are going to work as hard as we can to raise it as fast as we can," Hutson said.

He predicted it would take several years to raise the money. "The association will do its hardest to raise as much money as it can through different fund raisers," said Hutson.

He said there aren't any strings attached to the financial pledge.

University officials have suggested that development of the River Campus could lead to expansion of the school's shuttle bus system. Such an expansion could include stops in the downtown area.

But Hutson said the downtown merchants and property owners made no such demands in pledging financial support for the River Campus project.

He said downtown merchants and property owners made the pledge public in an effort to help pass a River Campus tax issue that is on Tuesday's ballot.

Voters will be asked to approve a bond issue and finance it with money from the motel-hotel and restaurant taxes. The tax measure would raise the hotel-motel tax from 3 percent to 4 percent and extend it from 2004 to 2030. The 1 percent restaurant tax would be extended from 2004 to 2030.

In all, the university wants to spend $35.6 million to redevelop old St. Vincent's Seminary into the River Campus.

Southeast wants $17.8 million in state funding. The city tax measure would provide another $8.9 million. The Southeast Missouri University Foundation would raise the remaining $8.9 million needed for the project.

The money pledged by the downtown merchants would go toward meeting the foundation's fund-raising goal.

The $1 million pledge by downtown merchants and property owners is the second major private commitment to the project.

The first was an $800,000 gift from Cape Girardeau resident B.W. Harrison last spring that allowed the foundation to purchase the seminary property.

University president Dr. Dale Nitzschke expressed gratitude to the downtown merchants and property owners who have made a financial commitment to the project.

"The seminary's first angel was Mr. B.W. Harrison and now we have a number of additional angels involved through the downtown merchants, property owners and several organizations," he said.

Nitzschke said he hopes the pledge sends a message to the voters. "I hope voters view this as a vote of confidence in the project itself."