Regents approve proposal to research upgrades to the Show Me Center

Nearly seven million people have attended the 9,800 events that have taken place at Southeast Missouri State University's Show Me Center since the doors first opened in 1987. Since then, a few upgrades have taken place but many important aspects of the building have never been updated or repaired.

During the Board of Regents meeting on Feb. 28, vice president of finance and administration Kathy Mangels said that many original pieces of the building are in desperate need of updating.

Some of the aspects of the building like the elevators and bathrooms, will receive less costly upgrades. Mangels also brought up the need to repave the parking lot because of major potholes scattered throughout the parking lot. In an attempt to modernize the building, Mangels proposed replacing the current scoreboard with a new one that may potentially be able to play videos.

Other smaller aspects that need updating and replacement are the lighting fixtures and the sound system. Mangels said that the current lighting fixtures are not energy efficient because they are dated and some burn hot enough that the fixtures themselves are beginning to show burn marks.

Along with these updates, Mangels also pointed out that the roof is in need of replacement because it is starting to crumble. Because of this, the Show Me Center has experienced much water damage.

The retractable seats on the floor are also part of the original building. These chairs have a shelf-life of 10-15 years, according to Mangles, and the seats there now are nearly 30 years old. While this aspect of the project seems like an easy fix, it is actually the most costly. Mangels estimates the seats will cost $2.4 million.

"That seating is no longer manufactured," Mangels said. "It really puts us at risk in terms of if it breaks down or a portion of it, because of the number of events that we have so frequently, so some of the seats won't come out for say commencement, and you think about a spring commencement where we are over-flowing into the rec center, and we have a portion of seats that couldn't come out that would have a huge impact on being able to do events, so it's kind of top of our list in terms of repairs that need to be done."

The total cost of the project is estimated to be $7.4 million. Mangels said that right now they are in the initial stage of getting approval to get architects and engineers to come in and help come up with better cost estimates. The Show Me Center is often used by the community and therefore Mangels said the city of Cape Girardeau has always been supportive of projects. However, as of right now, the city has no plan to help financially, but that may not be the case down the road when a full plan has been established.

Before a timeline of the project can be established, Mangels said experts will first have to examine the building and the work to be done. What also makes a timeline difficult is that the building is a beacon of entertainment for the community and is frequently used for events of all types like concerts, commencement ceremonies, sporting events and much more.

"We need some folks to come in who have knowledge of seating installing, sound systems and those kinds of things so that they can give us some good information on how long we need the arena to be offline in order to do some of these renovations," Mangels said. "Then we could take a look at the events that normally happen and develop a timeline to propose to the board."

The Board of Regents authorized Mangels and Show Me Center officials to move ahead in researching costs to make the necessary improvements. Further development will begin very soon. The next step will be to find experts and architects to come in and give an estimate on costs and develop a timeline.