Newspaper receiving award for preservation

The Southeast Missourian building will be honored today with a "Preserve Missouri Award" from the Missouri Alliance for Historic Preservation, a not-for-profit, volunteer-led organization based in Columbia.

The 81-year-old building was restored in 2005 using historic preservation tax credits from the state.

Today, Jon K. Rust, Rex D. Rust and Gary Rust will accept the award honoring the Southeast Missourian in the Missouri State Capitol Rotunda in Jefferson City. The building is being honored with the award along with six others from around the state.

Karen Bode Baxter is a historic preservation consultant who advised the newspaper on the rehabilitation work. Baxter nominated the Rusts for the award, something she says she rarely does.

"They went above and beyond what they would have to do to save that building. They went above and beyond to rebuild the bay windows on the front of the building, they went above and beyond to repair and replicate those beautiful multicolored glazed tiles on the building. Just to take the building, retrofit it and then use it for a 21st-century news publication is really an accomplishment," she said.

Baxter went on to applaud both the Rust family and Kiku Obata & Co., the architecture firm that designed the remodeling, for breathing new life into an old building.

"When you're using historic tax credits you can define your own scope of work. But they decided to work on other things that weren't even part of the scope," she said, pointing to the pressed-tin ceiling that was part of the restoration work.

"Maybe most importantly, they chose to stay in downtown Cape Girardeau instead of going and building a brand-new metal shed somewhere else."

Baxter cited state sponsored studies indicating that for every dollar handed out by the state of Missouri, $1.50 is returned to state coffers through added property taxes, sales tax on raw materials used in construction and added jobs.

"It really does generate revenue for the state," she said. In 2005, $74.5 million in historic preservation tax credits were issued in Missouri.

Barbara Fitzgerald, executive director of Missouri Alliance for Historic Preservation, said the projects and people to be honored today all made significant contributions to preservation in the state.

"The awards are nominated by people throughout the state. They are reviewed by a panel of nine preservationists. I believe it's a fairly difficult job because of the number of outstanding projects occurring in the state, so these chosen really represent some of the best," she said.

Other than the Preserve Missouri Award that the Southeast Missourian and six other buildings will be receiving, there will also be an award for lifetime achievement, an award for projects that are not yet complete and an award for preservation-related literature.

tgreaney@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 245