OLD ST. FRANCIS PROJECT AWAITS FUNDING

If tax credits and other funding mechanisms aren't in place by January, the new owners of old St. Francis Hospital will give up plans to renovate the structure, Trent Condellone said Monday night.

Condellone of 801 Good Hope Inc., the group that bought the old hospital this year, brought the Cape Girardeau City Council up to date on the group's plans for the building.

The Springfield, Mo., businessman told council members he will have "rock solid" cost estimates on rehabilitating the building within three weeks. He said his preliminary cost estimates for renovation were $2.5 million to $3 million.

Condellone said he should also have information on financing the project within that time period.

He said he hopes to receive tax credits for the project. Plans still call for a mixed use of the building, including low-income elderly housing and office space for not-for-profit organizations.

Most of the building would be turned into housing that would include one-bedroom and efficiency apartments for seniors, Candellone said.

"It will not be a nursing home," he said.

If necessary, he said, a partial renovation of the building could be undertaken rather than working on the entire structure.

He said he hopes to begin meeting next week with a local architect on drafting plans for the building. He also plans to begin working next week on securing the building by boarding up windows and putting a fence around the property.

Condellone said he hopes the actions to secure the building will convince the city to hold off on a condemnation process. The City Council voted last month to begin condemnation procedures on the building.

Condellone said if 801 Good Hope Inc. doesn't get tax credits it won't just abandon the building but will sell it or donate it to a not-for-profit group that might be able to qualify for grants and tax credits.

Mayor Al Spradling III and other council members said they were glad to hear from Condellone about his plans for the building, but until they see definite action on the structure, the condemnation process will continue.

Condellone's report "certainly gave us a little bit better feel" of the scope of the project, Spradling said, but there are still some questions.

Said Spradling: "Obviously the main question I have is the ability to do the work and get something done in a reasonable period of time. That's certainly is the issue we all have. If he can proceed diligently with his cost estimates and getting his tax credits in line and getting a definite plan for the building, that will give us something."

The mayor said he considers six months a reasonable time frame for Condellone to show concrete progress on redeveloping the building, which is at Good Hope and Pacific.

Public outcry over the old hospital's condition has prompted the decision to pursue condemnation, Spradling said, but the city has been considering action against the building for some years.

He called the structure "a blight on the neighborhood," and said it has attracted vagrants and drug dealers to the neighborhood.

The city has had to bear the cost of mowing the property and trying to keep the building secure for the last several years, he said.

The decision to condemn the structure coincided with the availability of use-tax funds to pay at least part of the cost of demolishing it, said Spradling.

In other action, the council tabled plans to establish a sewer district and require the installation of sewer lines to serve three homes on Perryville Road and three on Evergreen Drive.

Council members agreed by a 5-2 vote to put off establishing the district until property owners on Perryville Road can work out an agreement on whether to have the city install the sewers and have the cost tax-billed to them or to have the work done by a private contractor.

Councilman Melvin Gateley asked that city manager Michael Miller work the property owners -- Duane Bryant, the Hanover Lutheran Church and Robert and Karen Stevenson -- to help them reach an agreement.

Bryant and church officials have agreed to go with a private contract. The Stevensons said Monday night that they preferred to have the city do the work because the cost could be paid off over a 10-year period.

The problem began several years ago when the septic system at the home now owned by the Stevensons began leaking.

Earlier this year, a contractor working on the Perryville Road reconstruction project severed lateral lines serving the system, and a city inspection revealed that a city-owned water line was leaking and had flooded the drainage field for the system.