University regents OK plan to dress up campus entrance

Southeast Missouri State University will have a new landscaped front entrance to the campus on Broadway complete with monument signs with waterfalls by August, prompting even more need to dress up the gray, concrete exterior of nearby Houck Field House, the board of regents said Wednesday.

The regents approved a $2.4 million project to construct two 35-foot-long, curved limestone monument signs, pave the gravel lot next to Houck Field House, widen and straighten the Broadway and Henderson Avenue intersection, and widen Broadway from Houck Place to Park Street.

Construction could get underway late this spring, officials said. The goal is to complete the work before the start of classes this fall. "We don't want to run it into the beginning of the next school year," said Dr. Dennis Holt, vice president of administration and enrollment management.

In addition, the university plans to renovate the exterior of Houck Field House. The public perception of the field house is that it is "really ugly," said Holt.

The $270,000 project involves repairs to the deteriorating concrete walls of the field house. Those walls then will be covered with a stucco, sandstone-colored finish to match recent improvements to Houck Stadium.

The two projects aren't scheduled to be done at the same time, but regents would like them to be.

Holt said school officials initially had hoped the work on the 54-year-old field house could be started and completed this year, but decided that was unrealistic. As late as Tuesday, Holt was talking about having the work done by October.

But on Wednesday, Holt and university president Dr. Ken Dobbins told the board that work on the field house likely won't be undertaken until next summer.

Regent Edward Matthews of Sikeston, Mo., suggested the university needs to renovate the field house at the same time that the Broadway and Henderson Avenue project is being done.

Dobbins and Holt said they'll explore that possibility, but questioned the feasibility of such a move.

Construction specifications for the Houck Field House improvements haven't been drawn up yet and could take two months to complete, Dobbins told the board.

School officials said paving of the gravel parking lot as part of the Broadway and Henderson project might have to be completed before work can start on the exterior of the field house.

That's because the parking lot comes within six feet of the field house, Dobbins said.

City transportation sales tax money will pay about $1.3 million worth of street and sidewalk improvements along Broadway and Henderson Avenue. The university will pay the other $1.1 million from existing bond proceeds and money set aside for campus improvements.

The Houck Field House improvements will be paid from the campus maintenance and repair budget.

In other action, the regents raised room and board rates for campus housing by 3.5 percent for the 2005-2006 school year. As a result, students will be paying $5,518 on average to live in residence halls and dine on campus.

The regents also raised the rent for its off-campus, student apartments. Rates at the 401 Washington St. apartments will increase by 4 percent and for the 505 Washington St. apartments by 2 percent.

Cape Girardeau lawyer Al Spradling III was sworn in as the new regent, replacing longtime regent Don Dickerson.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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