Section of Broadway named to National Historic Register

The National Register of Historic Places got a little larger this month when it added to its listings the south side of the 400 block of Broadway.

The newest listing, made official Sept. 4, enlarges the boundary of the National Register's Broadway-Middle Commercial Historic District, which previously included the 500 block of Broadway and the 100 block of North Middle Street.

"The listing identifies the block as being historically significant," said Dr. Steven Hoffman, professor of history at Southeast Missouri State University and coordinator of the university's historic preservation program. "There's a certain pride element involved there."

Hoffman said he was part of a team in the historic preservation program that led the effort to increase the boundary of the historic district to include the 400 block of Broadway.

"It had been in the works since 2009," he said. "The effort to add historically significant parts of Broadway to the historic district actually started as a student project in 2007. That's when the 500 block of Broadway was listed."

The nomination of the 400 block of Broadway was first approved by the Missouri Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, which forwarded the nomination to the National Register in Washington, D.C., for final approval.

Other Cape Girardeau listings on the National Register include the Common Pleas Courthouse at 44 N. Lorimier St., the Glenn House at 325 S. Spanish St. and Old Lorimier Cemetery at 500 N. Fountain St.

Hoffman said property owners within a historic district are not subject to any special regulations.

"The only responsibilities they have for their property are defined by local zoning laws," he said.

However, there is a tax benefit for a building within a historic district. Such a building becomes eligible for a federal and state historic preservation tax credit when the building is rehabbed.

"The tax credit is a tool," said Marla Mills, executive director of Old Town Cape. "It can be an incentive for the rehabilitation of buildings in a listed historical district."

Mills said a requirement of receiving the tax credit is to keep the historical aspects of a building in place during renovations.

"The goal is for the defining characteristics to remain," she said.

A blog posted on Old Town Cape's website July 24 said renovation of the A.J. Vasterling building at 407 Broadway qualified for tax credits. The upper floors were being developed into apartment units called Vasterling Suites by Clemco Development LLC of Ste. Genevieve, Mo.

Calls to Clemco Development went unreturned as of late Friday. The Department of Economic Development was processing a Sunshine Request by the Southeast Missourian sent late Friday, seeking information on the tax credits.

For more information on the National Register of Historic Places, visit nps.gov.

klewis@semissourian.com

388-3635

Pertinent address: 407 Broadway, Cape Girardeau, MO

44 N. Lorimier St., Cape Girardeau, MO

325 S. Spanish St., Cape Girardeau, MO

500 N. Fountain St., Cape Girardeau, MO