LOCAL TEAMSTERS BUILDING SOLD IN CAPE GIRARDEAU

429 N. Broadview, Cape Girardeau, Missouri

A Cape Girardeau building with an abundant amount of local history has recently been sold according to Tom Kelsey, commercial broker with Lorimont Place, Ltd. who handled the real estate sale.  Kelsey said the Teamsters Union building located at 429 N. Broadview has been sold to a local national food franchisee, who will convert it into a new operations office for overseeing their area McDonald’s restaurants.  Part of the building will also be used for supply and equipment storage.  The Davis family owns a number of McDonald’s in Southeast Missouri with over 650 employees throughout the region.

The 15,831 square-foot brick building served as the Teamsters Local 574 for nearly 45 years.  The union headquarters was dedicated on October 12, 1963 by James R. Hoffa, the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters at the time.   Hoffa disappeared in 1975 and has been shrouded in mystery ever since with much speculation as to what happened.  Popular legend has it that either the Mafia or those within his own organization had him executed and disposed of his body.  In recent years various sites have been examined seeking to uncover the mystery of his disappearance.  Hoffa was officially declared dead in 1982; however his body or remains have never been discovered.

The official 1963 building dedication program indicates that Dan Harmon was the union president and Thomas Edwards was the secretary treasurer at the time.  Remarks were also made by local civic leaders including Walter H. Ford, mayor of Cape Girardeau and Albert M. Spradling, Jr, president and pro tem of the Missouri senate.  James R. Hoffa was introduced by Harold J. Gibbons, the executive vice president of the international union.  Those in attendance said the colorful and outspoken Hoffa, then 50 at the time and already a powerful union boss was quite the celebrity in Cape Girardeau that day. His disappearance occurred 12 years later outside a suburban Detroit restaurant.

At one time the regional membership in the local union was in the thousands.  A huge meeting room in the north part of the building held a large portrait of Hoffa and was a familiar union voting and gathering place for many of its members over the years. Many in the area also used the community room in the lower level for anniversaries, parties, wedding receptions and other events.

The local union was merged with the St. Louis based Teamsters local 600 a few years ago.  As membership declined, the large facility was not needed.  Kelsey said it was his understanding the buyer will make few changes in the building, other than some restoration, converting the lower level to supply storage and upgrading many of the building systems.  The outside stone inscription shows the executive board members at the time of the dedication along with recognizing Harold W. Long as the Architect and well-known local commercial contractor, Burton J. Gerhardt, as constructing the building.