UNIVERSITY PURCHASES SEMINARY; PROPERTY TO SERVE AS PERFORMING ARTS CAMPUS

~Correction: The estimate of those attending the news conference is in error. There were close to 150 persons present for the announcement.

Southeast Missouri State University plans to renovate St. Vincent's College and Seminary in Cape Girardeau and turn it into a school of visual and performing arts.

The historic site overlooks the Mississippi River south of the Mississippi River bridge and just to the north of the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge under construction.

The university is buying the property with a financial gift from local business owner and longtime university supporter B.W. Harrison of Cape Girardeau.

Harrison's home at 340 S. Lorimier is just north of the seminary grounds. His wife's father completed the home in 1906.

Priests from the seminary regularly visited the home and used it as a retreat.

Harrison, 88, said he put up the funds to buy the seminary property because he wanted the site to serve as a memorial to his wife and her mother. Both women had a longtime association with the seminary.

The purchase price wasn't disclosed. The Catholic group that sold the property, the Congregation of the Mission, required the price to be kept secret as a condition of the sale. Congregation of the Mission has offices in Earth City in St. Louis County.

Southeast wants to move its departments of art, dance, music and theatre to the seminary property. In addition, the University Museum would move there. The site would be known as the university's River Campus.

The buildings at the former Catholic college encompass 60,000 square feet. The exterior of the brick buildings will be preserved, but the interior will be completely remodeled.

The university plans to add another 90,000-square-foot structure that would include a 1,000-seat performance hall, a regional history museum, classrooms and lecture and recital rooms. The new building would have a view of the Mississippi River.

Southeast's president, Dr. Dale Nitzschke, said the renovation and expansion project could cost $35 million.

The project will require both public and private support, school officials said. Nitzschke said the university hopes to obtain half of the funds from the state. The other half or about $17.5 million would have to come from private donations and hopefully funding from other entities, he said.

Nitzschke said he would like to see the River Campus open its doors within 30 months. But he said that timetable would be difficult without some financial support from various entities such as Cape Girardeau and Cape Girardeau County.

Nitzschke and Don Dickerson, president of the Board of Regents, have talked to city and county officials and civic leaders about the need for funding.

University officials announced the purchase of the former Catholic college Wednesday evening on the seminary grounds. About 70 people attended. They gave Harrison two standing ovations.

Dickerson said, "We have asked you here to share a dream."

He said the project is one that can't be built by the university alone. "This has to be a shared project. This truly has to be a community, a county and a regional project," he said.

The Rev. William Hartenbach of the Congregation of the Mission said in a written statement that the transaction meets three goals of the Catholic group.

"This important location will remain a vital community asset. It will provide an expansion of education in the region and will preserve and protect the historical value of the property," he said.

The Congregation of the Mission or Vincentian Fathers previously had sought to sell the property for about $700,000.

Wednesday night's event followed actions taken by the Board of Regents and the Southeast Missouri University Foundation's executive committee earlier in the day.

The 11-member committee directs the foundation, the university's fund-raising arm.

The committee agreed to approve the regents' request to purchase the buildings and grounds.

Nitzschke said the university owes a debt of gratitude to Harrison and the Vincentians.

"The Vincentians provided us with a very attractive option to purchase the property as long as we maintain the historical nature of the structures and the educational mission of the facility," he said.

"There has been an educational mission at this site for more than 150 years, and we at Southeast will continue that rich tradition and hope to provide educational opportunities there at that location for at least another 150 years," he said.

The Catholic school closed its doors in 1979. The property had been for sale since 1989.

A civic group called the Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation tried to buy the property. The group wanted to turn the site into a cultural center or museum.

In 1995, the group agreed to buy the property for $700,000. But the sale fell through in October 1996 when the Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation couldn't come up with the money.

Nitzschke and other speakers Wednesday night praised the preservation efforts of the Colonial Cape Girardeau Foundation.

St. Vincent's College and Seminary has a rich history. It was responsible for educating thousands of students, especially priests, from its inception as St. Vincent's Male Academy in 1838.

The cornerstone for the first building for the seminary was laid in 1843.

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

In 1871, a three-story wing west of the dormitories was added to house a chapel, lecture room and recreation room.