Downtown abuzz with activity; exciting times ahead

A story last week written by reporter Erin Ragan highlighted an upswing in downtown Cape Girardeau.

Consider the following action taking place downtown:

• A former garage re-purposed into an attractive office space
• Buildings with sold signs
• Buildings being painted
• Reopening of Stevie's Steakburgers
• Development of a student-focused technology lab and business incubator
• Opening of Codefi
• New office spaces in the old federal building
• Development underway of a new mass media center in an unoccupied bank building
• Renovation of the old Keys Music Store for Rust & Martin
• Renovation of the former Buckner Brewing Co.
• Recent opening of The Bar
• Plans to open an Indian restaurant
• Opening of The Loft at 36
• Opening of Coin-op Cantina, an arcade and bar
• Development of a luxury town house complex
• Expansion of Judith's Antiques and Gung Ho Militaria

Wow. How exciting it is to see the movement on new enterprises, particularly when the downtown area has had, in the past, so much empty inventory.

That's not to say there hasn't been some enterprises moving out of the area, too. The license office and Philanthropy both vacated downtown storefronts. There is still a long way to go before the downtown truly reaches its potential, but the buzz is certainly likely to attract more interest, and hopefully we will see bigger players enter the market.

But it's clear there are more positives percolating in downtown Cape Girardeau than there have been in a long time.

We welcome all the good news, and we wish success for all the new endeavors.