PERRYVILLE CORPORATION AGREES TO FUND WORK AT HIGHER EDUCATION CENTER

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- A Perryville development group has agreed to fund up to $400,000 in renovations to turn a former Catholic seminary building into a higher education center.

The Perryville Development Corp. board approved the funding arrangement following a meeting Tuesday evening with officials of Southeast Missouri State University, Mineral Area College, Perryville, Perry County and the local industrial development authority. About 30 people attended the meeting at the American Legion hall.

David Crader, president of the Perryville Development Corp., said the corporation will provide the money to get the project started. Crader said the corporation plans to solicit funding from Perryville and Perry County to assist with the project.

"This is an exciting project," Crader said following the board's action.

Southeast and Mineral Area College plan to turn the library at St. Mary's of the Barrens into a higher education center where both schools will offer classes. The goal is to renovate the first floor, turning the space into classrooms. Classes could begin next January, Mineral Area and Southeast officials said.

Dr. Ken Dobbins, Southeast's president, said community funding was essential to moving forward with the project. "The only way we could renovate that facility is if the community stepped forward," he said.

The development board's action allows the university to move forward with renovation plans, Dobbins said. Southeast's Board of Regents will be asked to formally approve the project on June 30.

Dr. Dixie Kohn, president of Mineral Area College in Park Hills, also welcomed the funding. "This really provides some energy to the project," he said.

Both Dobbins and Kohn spoke at the meeting prior to the development board's action.

Southeast plans to lease the library from the Congregation of the Mission, the Catholic organization that owns it.

Dobbins said lawyers for the university and the Catholic Vincentians are working out final details. He said the 50-year lease could be signed by the end of the month. It calls for the university to pay the Vincentians $1 a year for use of the library building. Southeast also could have options to use a dormitory building and a gymnasium on the site.

Dobbins said the university foundation would have to purchase about five acres of land at the former seminary site. The land would be used for parking and construction of a two-way drive to the center.

"It is in excellent condition," Dobbins said of the 46-year-old library.

Renovations to the first floor are expected to cost about $478,000. But $130,000 of that is for furniture to equip five classrooms, a computer lab, two offices and equipment for an interactive television classroom.

Mineral Area plans to move some furniture and equipment it has in the Sereno education center into the Perryville center. Southeast would pay for the moving expenses.

Kohn said Mineral Area College plans to continue to offer customized training for industry at the Sereno center, situated in a former grade school on Highway 51 five miles east of Perryville.

Cost figures presented at the meeting show the biggest initial renovation cost for the Perryville center would be an estimated $173,000 to construct a 120-space parking lot and a two-way drive, make storm drainage improvements and install a handicapped-accessible ramp on the east side of the library building.

If the second floor and the basement are renovated for classrooms over the next several years, total costs could be around $1.25 million, Southeast officials said.

The new center could serve some 400 students.

The university also wants the Vincentians to donate or loan a collection of rare books, paperweights and art pieces to Southeast's River Campus museum. The River Campus arts school and museum is planned for the former St. Vincent's Seminary in Cape Girardeau. The Vincentians formerly owned the Cape Girardeau seminary.

Congregation of the Mission officials have yet to act on the request for the collection. The rare books and other objects are housed on the library's second floor.

Southeast officials said the renovation work on the first floor could

(proceed without having to move the rare books and other items out of the building.