SEMO urges local River Campus bids

River Campus project officials encouraged more than 100 local contractors on Friday to bid on the various construction tasks needed to build Southeast Missouri State University's arts school.

"What we are ready to do is get down to work and start building this thing," Dr. Dennis Holt, vice president of administration and enrollment management, told the contractors at a morning meeting in the University Center.

Construction of Terrace Park on the riverfront site of a former Catholic seminary in Cape Girardeau is expected to begin in March and be completed by June. Zoellner Construction of Perryville was the low bidder on the $265,000 project.

Although it is on the grounds of the new campus, the park is being handled as a separate project. It wasn't part of Friday's discussion, which focused on the massive building work needed to construct the arts campus itself.

The more than $40 million project will involve construction of a 80,000-square-foot theater building, a 14,000-square-foot regional history and art museum and a 5,000-square-foot welcome center, all under one roof with a shared lobby. It also will involve renovations to the historic brick seminary building to turn it into faculty offices, classrooms and a recital hall.

"We are getting excited about this project," project manager Timothy Hudwalker of BSI, the St. Louis-based firm that is managing the development for the university.

Hudwalker said the old seminary building, part of which dates back to 1843, will be gutted to make room for offices and classrooms. An old chapel will be converted into a recital hall that will seat 150 to 200 people, he said.

Some of the first construction work, scheduled to be bid as a series of construction "packages" in February, involves grading of 11 acres of the site, as well as sewer and demolition work, and work to strengthen the foundation of the historic building to protect it from earthquakes.

The university plans to raze an old gymnasium, maintenance shed, swimming pool and tennis courts to clear the way for new construction. That demolition work could take several weeks, project officials said.

Construction of the welcome center will be bid later as a separate package, officials said. But all of the construction work is expected to be completed by summer 2007, Hudwalker said.

University officials hope to open bids on the new construction by late April.

Work on the new arts building should begin in June, officials said.

Hudwalker said that part of the new construction will feature a 950-seat performance hall, a smaller theater with flexible seating to allow for traditional stage and theater-in-the-round productions and a dance studio.

Art studios will be housed on a lower level of the building.

"I know the size of the project may be overwhelming," said Lisa Howe, senior project manager with facilities management at Southeast. But bidding the work by construction task should make it easier for local firms to compete for the jobs, she said.

Hudwalker said he doesn't know yet exactly how many different construction contracts will be awarded on the project.

The River Campus Board of Managers had urged the university to hire local contractors. In addition, a settlement reached between the city of Cape Girardeau and businessman Jim Drury requires such hirings where possible.

Jerry Ford, one of three River Campus board members who attended the meeting, was encouraged by the gathering.

Ford said he wants to see the money spent on the project stay in the local economy.

"It also gives some ownership locally to the project," said Ford, adding that contractors then can take pride in their work on the project.

River Campus board member Dennis Vollink said Friday's meeting may help convince local contractors that the university wants to do business with them.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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