Marquette project could give Cape major boost

Local developers announced last week a downtown project that could add another huge boost to the downtown Cape Girardeau area.

Jeffrey Maurer of Mayson Capital Partners announced a $20 million development that intends to make use of 145,000 square feet, most of which is currently unoccupied. The plan calls for the development of two large, significant and historic buildings, the Marquette Tower and the H-H Building.

First, the developers intend to fix up the Marquette Tower and turn it into a hub for technology startups and companies. Along with Codefi co-founder James Stapleton, Maurer wants to retain and attract talent in the technology sector, not only by providing ample space with great views of the downtown district, but by also -- and perhaps more importantly -- equipping the building with high-speed fiber-optic internet that will give tech-based businesses the speed necessary to do heavy lifting, so to speak. The project will also bring free public Wi-Fi to the downtown area. Codefi will occupy up to three floors of the Marquette building. With other soon-to-be-announced commitments, a coffee bar on the main floor and a restaurant on the top floor with one of the best views in town, Maurer said the Marquette Tower could be at 75 percent capacity upon opening this fall.

As for the H-H Building and the adjacent Marquette Center building, they will be converted into a Marriott Courtyard Hotel. The five-story building will house about 96 rooms; and it will be connected to the Marquette Center, a smaller building behind the H-H on Fountain Street.

The downtown Cape area has not had a hotel in about 50 years; Maurer believes the time is ripe for a return. Being surrounded by a growing university, a large hospital, a casino and several downtown businesses should provide enough business for a successful hotel, Maurer said. The hotel will have a restaurant on the main floor as well.

What a bold vision and project.

Maurer and his group of developers are putting serious faith in downtown Cape. Not only do they hope to make money, but they see this project as being another critical step in making Cape's downtown a destination. They hope it brings the same type of boost as the River Campus and Isle Casino. When everything is completed, the project could bring as many as 300 guests and employees into the downtown area every day. That will help the entire downtown district and its many shops and restaurants.

Will it work? We hope so. We believe, as do the developers, that this project has a much better chance to work than other failed attempts in the Marquette Tower because of the local backing behind it. This is not an out-of-town developer trying to come in and flip a property for profit. The developers intend to stick through it and are putting emphasis on the strategy and types of businesses to bring in that will fit within and complement the downtown footprint.

There will be a public financing aspect to the project. And it will be necessary. Rehabbing historic buildings comes at great cost. The developers will be using tax incentives created just for this type of project, intended to prevent the demolition of beautiful, old buildings as they cascade into rubbish.

They will be using historic tax credits and an economic tool called tax-increment financing for the project. TIF is a way to use the increased tax revenue brought in by a project and using some of it to pay for infrastructure for the project rather than doling it out to taxing entities such as schools and libraries. The taxing entities still get the baseline taxes they were getting before the project. The city council will be discussing the TIF at Monday night's city council meeting.

We are impressed by the vision and bold action of the developers who are investing so much into Cape Girardeau's downtown. Financed by Southern Bank of Poplar Bluff, the developers have local investors putting up private funds for the project. If successful, this project will indeed set off positive economic reverberations across the entire downtown area.

We wish the investors and developers the best of luck as they continue to move through all of the decisions and details that lie ahead.