River Campus changing from the inside out

Former St. Vincent's Seminary getting concrete reinforcements for earthquake protection.

From the outside, the old L-shaped brick seminary building still retains its more-than-century-old look. But inside, it's been gutted and thick concrete walls have been erected to withstand a major earthquake.

The only thing historic showing now from the inside of the old recital hall are the stained glass windows. Those windows will remain.

But more than 200 windows in the 46,000-square-foot building, constructed in stages between 1843 and 1871, will be replaced.

"We have gutted the building down to its bare structure," said Carl Cooper, project manager for BSI Constructors of St. Louis which is managing the construction work for Southeast Missouri State University.

The university is working to transform the former St. Vincent's Seminary into the River Campus arts school overlooking the Mississippi River in Cape Girardeau.

It's part of nearly $40 million in construction work that includes erecting a new 100,000-square-foot building that will include a new performance hall and a regional history and art museum.

The entire project is expected to be completed and opened by the start of the 2007 fall semester, school officials said.

Unlike most construction projects, this one involves more than 20 separate construction contracts designed to involve as much local labor as possible. In all, 11 area firms are involved in the construction work, school officials said.

Nineteen construction contracts totaling more than $37.8 million have been awarded since this spring, most of them since late May.

The project is financed by the state, the city of Cape Girardeau, and donations raised by the university foundation.

Currently the project involves about 50 construction workers. That number is expected to climb to about 100 to 150 as the work proceeds, BSI officials said.

Four contracts involving theater seating still haven't been awarded. No bids were received on three of those construction packages.

But so far that hasn't delayed construction since the walls have yet to go up on the performance hall.

"Basically the site work is complete. All the sewers are in," Cooper said. The seminary gymnasium, a swimming pool, maintenance shed and tennis courts have been demolished.

Inside the old seminary building, construction workers have been building a concrete shell 5 to 8 inches thick which butts up against the old brick walls. The bricks are anchored with metal support bars to the new concrete shell. The goal: To keep the building standing in the event of a major earthquake.

Crews drilled 41,000 holes in the ancient brick walls to house the metal support rods.

The seismic upgrade is about a third completed and should be finished by the end of the year, Cooper said.

The seminary, which once trained boys to be priests, is now empty of classrooms and dormitory beds. The seminary solitude has been replaced with the noisy tools of construction.

The old seminary was once heated with some 50 fire places, Cooper said. All of them are being boarded up as part of the renovations.

But even gutted, the building draws praise from Cooper and university officials who admire the handiwork of long forgotten carpenters who cut the massive Poplar wood beams and pegged them together.

"It was built with hand work and craftsmanship," said Cooper.

"It was built with hammers and chisels," said Scott Meyer, facilities management director for Southeast.

Outside the seminary, crews dug deep into the ground to prepare for the footings for the new performance hall. Masonry work on the new building is scheduled to start by the end of October, Cooper said.

Starting next year, the new construction will be visible to those who travel by the site, he said.

Wooden stakes mark out the perimeter of a new parking lot that will be constructed on the northwest corner. The lot will have room to park about 300 vehicles. A smaller parking lot to the south on the southwest side of the lot will hold about 30 vehicles, Cooper said.

While it's not a part of the main River Campus project, construction continues on development of the $325,000 Terrace Park which features an asphalt walking trail that encircles a champion beech tree on the east side of the grounds overlooking the river. The tree, estimated to be more than 160 years old, has a trunk more than 16 feet in circumference.

Zoellner Construction of Perryville, Mo., is the contractor. The construction work itself is costing nearly $229,000. The rest of the cost includes design and engineering work.

A federal grant is paying 80 percent. The university is providing the 20-percent match.

As part of the project, an open-air pavilion has been erected along with a 10-space parking lot off Aquamsi Street. The trail also will be reachable from Morgan Oak Street which borders the north side of the park.

The university plans to maintain the small, tree-filled park which will include six interpretive signs along the trail. Those signs have yet to be installed.

The park, which sits at the bottom of a slope east of the old seminary building, is scheduled to be completed by the end of September, school officials said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123

---

PAYING THE BILL

Construction continues on the River Campus project. A look at the costs associated with it:

Air conditioning: $6.49 million

Landscaping: $5.65 million

Electrical: $4.28 million

Drywall and plaster: $3.57 million

Steel: $3.23 million

Structural work: $2.8 million

Masonry: $2.54 million

Roofing: $1.88 million

Theater equipment: $1.37 million

Glass and glazing: $1.16 million

Plumbing: $1.01 million

Other costs: $3.89 million

Total: $37.9 million

Source: Southeast Missouri State Univ.