RIVER CAMPUS WAITS ON FUNDING

A simple majority wasn't enough.

Cape Girardeau voters on Nov. 3, 1998, failed to give a two-thirds majority to a proposed bond issue to help finance Southeast Missouri State University's proposed River Campus.

Voters approved a measure increasing the city's hotel-motel tax and extending the restaurant and motel taxes to 2030.

A companion measure that would have permitted issuance of $8.9 million in bonds also garnered 53 percent approval, but that fell short of the 57.2 percent needed to pass the bond issue.

Mayor Al Spradling III said the two River Campus measures may have been lost in the shuffle with the many political offices and state constitutional issues on the ballot.

Of the 10,000 city voters who went to the polls, 847 didn't vote on the River Campus tax measure or bond issue.

The ballot measures were designed to help fund redevelopment of old St. Vincent's Seminary in Cape Girardeau into a visual and performing arts school on the banks of the Mississippi River.

The bond issue would have funded a fourth of the proposed $35.6 million project.

Southeast has asked the Missouri Legislature to contribute $17.8 million to the project. Southeast would raise the remaining $8.9 million from private donations and gifts.

"The majority of people wanted the project," said John Mehner, Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce president. "We have the tax extension. Now we will have to start looking for options."

Dr. Dale Nitzschke, Southeast's president, said the vote presented "a real challenge."

"It's back to the drawing board," he said. "We have to rethink the whole thing and see what the options are."

In December 1998, the City Council and the Board of Regents settled on a new option.

The university will ask a state authority to issue revenue bonds for the River Campus project. The bonds would be retired with revenue from Cape Girardeau's motel and restaurant taxes.

The bonds would be issued by the state's Health and Educational Facilities Authority.

Southeast doesn't plan to ask for the issuance of the bonds unless or until state funding is secured for the project.

The River Campus project was the talk of the town for much of 1998.

Southeast bought the former Catholic seminary last year. The purchase was funded with an $800,000 financial gift from Cape Girardeau resident B.W. Harrison.

In addition to renovating the old brick buildings, Southeast wants to construct new academic space that would include a 1,000-seat performance hall.

In addition to university needs, the hall could attract Broadway shows and other touring groups, proponents said.

St. Vincent's Seminary has a rich history. The cornerstone for the first building was laid in 1843.

During the Civil War, the college continued to train most of the Catholic clergy of the West.

The Catholic school closed its doors in 1979. A decade later, the property was put up for sale.