At the July 6th city council meeting, council board members examined and concluded that the City of Cape Girardeau’s TIF redevelopment project was making satisfactory progress.
In January of 2016, the council approved a redevelopment plan for the downtown TIF (Tax Increment Financing) district, which encompasses five redevelopment project areas and what each of those redevelopment project areas should strive for.
RPA-1 of Cape Girardeau’s downtown district is intended for professional office development, dining, hospitality, and upper-storey residential and retail development that positively impacts the economic well-being of downtown, more specifically the rehabilitation of three large structures, 338 and 400 Broadway, and 221 North Fountain Street. The project’s total budget exceeded $21 million.
In 2017, the Marquette tower building was completed and now houses various businesses including the Cape Chamber of Commerce, Convention and Visitors Bureau, Top of the Marq, Groundabout Coffee, and Codefi.
At the meeting, the council emphasized the value of the Codefi organization and its particular addition to the project, offering 60 new companies among its members and creating 240 new jobs, raising $30 million. Their youth coding League has had 50 teams and schools and approximately 500 kids participate in this last spring session. “Code Labs” has had approximately 200 participants since inception.
In 2018 the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel opened up in the H&H (Himmelberger and Harris) building, employing 20 full-time staff and 19 part-time staff members, and is reporting approximately 70% occupancy for 2021.
The redevelopment plan allows developers to utilize TIF for reimbursement of project costs, which includes 90% of incremental Real Property Tax generated by the project, and up to 50% of economic activity taxes for the city's sales tax portion. To date, the developer has been reimbursed over $433,00 and approximately $366,000 of that is from the property tax increment and 67,500 from The Sales Tax reimbursement.
“This is a project that whenever I bring people in from out of town, has stunned them,” said Council Ward 1 Dan Presson. “Driving down Broadway and seeing the Courtyard and seeing The Marquette, it is what engages people in the City of Cape Girardeau and I couldn't be happier with the progress.”
Ward 3 Nate Thomas agreed with Presson, saying the projects are the pinnacle of success for what the TIF’s are designed for.
“Talking about the properties that were enhanced, --blighted properties that could have been at the point of no return are now the cornerstone of downtown. They're just beautiful,” said Thomas. “They've added so much to our economy, so much to our tourism, it's a great ongoing project.”
The board concluded that the redevelopment plan for the downtown Tax Increment Financing district in Cape Girardeau is making satisfactory progress on the proposed tax schedule contained with the approved plan for completion.
The progress of the TIF project’s redevelopment plan is on schedule to close in 2023.
