Nominations open for Cape Girardeau's Endangered Buildings List

The City of Cape Girardeau's Historic Preservation Commission is accepting nominees for its 2023 Endangered Buildings List, a compilation of various structures in the city that provide cultural and historical value but have degraded over time and are potentially in line for demolition.

Commission chairman Ryan Lane said the hope is to inspire reinvestment efforts in the buildings on the list, preventing important pieces of Cape Girardeau history from being lost.

The commission began the catalog more than a decade ago; the 2022 edition has 23 buildings.

A building being added to the list does not mean it is safe from potential demolition, but allows for increased awareness around its dire state, helping keep the door open for potential renovation opportunities, Lane said.

The building that housed Broadway Theatre has been a stalwart of the compilation since it first began. It is set to be demolished this spring.

"The city has just given an unbelievable amount of extensions to try and get this figured out to where somehow a grant or private investor or investment company that has multiple investors in a group can come and do something," Lane said.

The biggest obstacle is having enough funding to renovate the decrepit structures. The Board of Directors for Cape Broadway Theatre — a not-for-profit with a mission to revitalize the former theater — estimated it would cost $6 million to restore the building, which is more than 100 years old and was damaged significantly by a fire in 2021. Suzanne Hightower, board president and owner of Speakeasy Coffee next door, in an interview with the Southeast Missourian in early February, said she has two private investors with the funds to save the building but it's up to the city whether they want to save the former theater.

Other structures on the 2022 list include Old City Hall — which was recently listed for sale by the city — Juden School, Art Building at Southeast Missouri State University and Surety Savings and Loan Association Building.

In order for a building to be eligible, it must be vacant and have fallen into significant disrepair, Lane said.

"It's really hard to put on an endangered list if it's habitable," he said.

The commission also maintains a watch list — currently nine structures — of buildings that could soon be on the endangered list but aren't quite ready for that distinction. The commission chairman said he expects that list to grow this year and could even surpass the endangered one.

Nominations are due Friday, March 10. Commission members will review them at their Wednesday, March 22, meeting before finalizing the list Wednesday, April 19.

The nomination form can be found at www.cityofcape.org/HPC.

Lane said he hopes to get a wider range of people involved and make nominations for this year's list.