SUPPORT BUILDS FOR HAPPY HOLLOW

The Happy Hollow area west of the Cape Girardeau City Hall has emerged as the leading site for a new $30 million federal courthouse.

The nearly six-acre, mostly vacant site is south of Independence in an area that was once a city dump.

The government views Happy Hollow as a compromise site that would meet its needs and that of the community, said Jim Ogden of the General Services Administration's regional office in Kansas City.

"I feel we have listened to the community as well as we could and also looked at what we think is a reasonable place to put a federal institution, a federal court building," he said Monday.

"It looks like it might be a kind of win-win situation," he said.

The site has good access and will have even better access when the new Highway 74 and Mississippi River bridge project is completed several blocks to the south, Ogden said.

Ogden said soil tests will be made to determine if there are any pollution or soil problems at the former dump site.

If all goes right, the GSA could make a formal recommendation and hold a public hearing by mid-summer regarding the Happy Hollow site, an area that years ago was infested with rats and littered with garbage.

Ogden and two other GSA officials held separate meetings in Cape Girardeau Monday afternoon with proponents of two competing blocks, who indicated they could support the Happy Hollow site.

GSA officials met with three members of the Haarig Area Development Association, a group of businessmen which has pushed the old St. Francis Hospital site on Good Hope.

The GSA officials then met with David Knight of the Downtown Merchants Association, which has proposed the north side of the 400 block of Broadway, diagonally across the street from the existing Federal Building in what is known as the H and H Building block.

"It wouldn't be just the downtown that would win, but the Haarig area would also win," said Knight. "It would actually wind up helping both areas."

Haarig business leaders told the GSA that the Happy Hollow area would be their group's second choice behind the old St. Francis Hospital site.

Haarig businessman Ted Coalter said his group would back the Happy Hollow site if the old St. Francis Hospital location is ruled out.

Contacted at home Monday night, Mayor Al Spradling III welcomed the idea.

"I think this is a good alternative," he said.

Spradling said the Happy Hollow site would be less expensive to purchase than the 400 block of Broadway, which is home to a number of businesses.

The mayor said a new courthouse would improve the Happy Hollow area, eliminating an eyesore.

Spradling said city officials had suggested the Happy Hollow site last fall after citizens objected to the federal government's proposal to build the courthouse within a two-block residential area immediately south of the existing Federal Building.

The GSA later ruled out the residential neighborhood.

Spradling said the GSA initially didn't consider the Happy Hollow site because it was south of Independence and contained a Union Electric substation.

But Ogden said Monday that the Happy Hollow site is acceptable.

Ogden said the site has more than enough land. The government only needs 175,000 square feet for the courthouse and parking.

"We are looking up there basically along Independence," he said.

The GSA has looked at building a $30 million courthouse within walking distance of the Federal Building on Broadway.

Ogden said the Happy Hollow site is within a few blocks of the Federal Building and compares favorably with distances between federal buildings in St. Louis and Kansas City.

He said the GSA decided to look at the area after citizens objected to tearing down tax-producing commercial buildings on Broadway and relocating the businesses.

He said the GSA also weighed public concerns about traffic congestion on Broadway.

Ogden said the courthouse project appears on solid footing financially.

President Clinton's budget includes design funding for a new courthouse in Cape Girardeau in fiscal 1998.

Under the current schedule, construction of a new courthouse could commence in fiscal 2000, which starts in October 1999.