History of the Cape Girardeau Business Park

Many questions are being asked regarding the recent sale of the city-owned Greater Cape Girardeau Business Park to a development group, Touchdown Development Group LLC. I want to organize the timeline of all city dealings with this property here. All council approvals cited below are a matter of public record and can be found in the council agenda information on the city website or directly at capegirardeau.novusagenda.com/agendapublic/meetingsresponsive.aspx.

At the Jan. 7, 2013, regular council meeting, the city council approved the purchase of real estate from the Southeast Missouri University Foundation to create the Business Park (Bill 13-09).

The total sale price was $6 million for 247.43 acres.

This money was paid in a down payment of $480,000 from the Greater Cape Girardeau Benevolent Association and then was to be paid out in 12 annual payments of $460,000 coming from the city's Casino Fund. The Dec. 13, 2012, edition of the Southeast Missourian reported the details of this sale.

The stated purpose of the purchase was to make the city competitive in business development. In the past 10 years, the city has only sold 44 acres of this parcel for a total revenue of around $1.2 million. This revenue has been held in the Casino Fund to develop the Business Park infrastructure.

At the April 18, 2016, regular city council meeting, the city council approved a memorandum of agreement with SEMO for two projects: 1) the construction and installation of a sculpture to be placed at the Fountain Street roundabout (total cost of $64,000) and 2) turf improvements to Capaha Field (total cost of $1.84 million). These projects were to be a 50/50 cost share between the city and SEMO to be paid by the end of fiscal year 2027. The city's share was to be paid from the Casino Fund by extending the promissory note the city had on the SEMO Foundation land purchase from Jan. 7, 2013. In essence, the city's annual payment schedule of $480,000 for that land purchase was extended two years. The Aug. 25, 2016, edition of the Southeast Missourian reported the details of this agreement.

As very little development had taken place over the past 10 years at the Business Park, the city council and staff conducted a comprehensive study this past year to determine the feasibility of attracting new businesses to the Park. This study showed that the lack of infrastructure development there (groundwork, utilities and roads) was a significant deterrent to attracting new business. Also, given the flood plain and rock foundation covering much of the land in the park, it was determined that there were only 65 to 70 acres remaining that are truly viable for significant business facilities. The study concluded that costs to develop the necessary infrastructure for this viable acreage would be at least $6.5 million -- far more than the $1.2 million that has been set aside for that purpose.

The city also applied for a grant with the U.S. Economic Development Administration, hoping to obtain money to help with the infrastructure development, but that application was rejected. These infrastructure issues of the Business Park were reported in the Jan. 5, 2022 and June 25, 2022 editions of the Southeast Missourian.

Due to all this, city staff and the council determined it was suitable to search for a buyer for the Business Park. Our city manager, Dr. Kenny Haskin, has been actively engaged in that process, casting a wide net in the area to generate interest from developers. One developer, Touchdown, wanted to begin discussions of a possible purchase, and that process commenced with the approval of the city council. That approval, along with subsequent negotiations, were conducted in closed sessions, as is allowed under law.

On Monday, Oct. 3, the city council approved selling the remaining 200 acres of the Business Park (Bill 22-161).

Several months of negotiations with the buyer took place, and the final terms of the sale came to $2.7 million with $1.8 million upfront and $850,000 to be paid out over the next three years. This sale also saves the city four more years of the $480,000 note payment. Various issues of all this were reported by the Southeast Missourian on Oct. 7, Nov. 16, and Dec. 1.

The strong consensus of this staff and council is that the Business Park would not yield the desired returns that were initially promoted, and the huge investments needed to possibly make the Business Park viable became insurmountable and held no guarantees of success.

The history of this venture confirms my belief that future investments, plans and development that this city puts forth need to be conducted with the most open communication and vetted strategy possible. To that end, the city has new staff with experience in community development and partnerships growing with the reinvigorated Cape Chamber and SE MO Redi (formally the Cape Area Magnet), which will all provide strong leadership in these types of issues.

Lastly, since the city will no longer have an ongoing allocation from the Casino Fund to the Business Park, we must begin to focus on new, strategic uses of this fund for the betterment of the city. Look for the council to take up that discussion with staff after the new year.

The current Casino Fund policy may be found on the city website under "Laws and Ordinances."

Stacy Kinder is the mayor of Cape Girardeau.