OFFICIALS BREAK GROUND FOR SENIOR HOUSING

State and local officials broke ground Friday on a housing complex at Linden and West End Boulevard planned for senior citizens with low and moderate incomes.

Missouri's secretary of state and treasurer were on hand with the Cape Girardeau mayor and officials from the company building the 44-unit apartment complex made possible because of the 1993 flood.

The complex was designed and proposed thanks to a federal grant awarded the state to create affordable housing after other affordable housing was damaged during the flood.

"This is a win-win situation for the city and people of Cape Girardeau," Mayor Al Spradling III said. "It's important to the city to know the state is behind us on projects like this."

State Treasure Bob Holden, who also serves as the chairman of the Missouri Housing and Development Commission, said the new complex will help fill a "critical" need in the area of decent, affordable housing.

"And this couldn't be accomplished without the great cooperation between the leadership in Cape and the state," he said.

Also on hand was Secretary of State Bekki Cook, saying she was pleased to see the federal government replacing some of the affordable housing lost during the flood.

"This really is a wonderful result that these people fought to get," Cook said.

MACO Construction Co. is building the complex and MACO Management Co. will ultimately manage it when completed sometime next year.

The complex will have 12 garden-apartment-style buildings with a total of 40, one-bedroom units and four, two-bedroom units.

To keep the rents affordable, the Missouri Housing and Development Commission also is providing low-cost financing for the building through the HOME Investment Partnership/Flood Relief Program. Under the HOME program, MHDC administers the federal funds to create affordable housing affected by the flood.