NEW APARTMENTS PLANNED

Construction of a $3 million apartment complex in South Cape Girardeau is scheduled to start next month.

Cape Girardeau's Planning and Zoning Commission Wednesday recommended granting a special-use permit for the 48-unit complex in the 900 block of Hackberry between Benton and South Pacific.

The developers, Cohen-Esrey Housing Partners of Kansas City, are waiting for the Cape Girardeau City Council to approve their request so they can get to work on Cape Girardeau Sundance Apartments.

Tracy Taylor, president of Cohen-Esrey, said the company will ask the City Council to hold an emergency session on the special-use permit. Taylor said Cohen-Esrey was unaware that under city zoning laws a special-use permit is required to put two buildings on one parcel.

Plans call for construction of two, 24-unit buildings with parking between them.

The City Council is scheduled to act on the request April 6.

The property was rezoned from M-1 light industrial to R-4 multiple family residential in 1996 to allow for construction of the apartment complex.

The Missouri Housing Development Commission approved federal and state tax credits for the complex. In the case of the Cape Girardeau Sundance Apartments, developers sell the tax credits -- $243,975 in federal credits and $48,795 in state credits -- to investors for cash to help finance a project.

The complex isn't federal Housing and Urban Development housing, Taylor said.

"Our target market is working families, quite often people who will save their money and end up buying a single-family home," he said.

The apartment complex will feature two- and three-bedroom apartments, each with two baths and playground areas.

"The rents will be in the range of probably $460 for a three-bedroom unit," Taylor said. "We haven't determined our final rents."

Taylor said: "Some people might call that affordable. Some people might say that sounds expensive. It depends on who you're talking to."

The Cohen-Esrey project is the second new housing project under way in South Cape Girardeau. Fifteen single-family rental units for low- and moderate-income families are being built by Moutell Construction Development and Housing Missouri, a statewide tax-credit financing partnership. Work started in 1996 on the $1.6 million Southeast Properties development.

Taylor said South Cape Girardeau is a good market for development.

"It's a part of town that we think is on the upswing," he said. "With the infrastructure that's going in there and some of the positive things that are happening there, we think that area is definitely on the upswing."

In addition to the private developments, the city is working on upgrading existing housing and improving infrastructure in South Cape Girardeau.

Work is wrapping up on the Locust-Maple Community Development Block Grant, a $733,500 grant aimed at upgrading 36 homes.

The city is awaiting clearance from the state to start a second block grant totaling $446,500 for 31 homes in the Jefferson-Shawnee Parkway neighborhood.

In addition, the city's sewer segregation project is under way. Sewer and storm-water lines are being installed, streets are being paved and new curbing, gutters and sidewalks are in the works for South Cape Girardeau.