At the April 17th Moline City Council meeting, Moline Development and Planning Director Ray Forsythe and Renew Moline Executive Director Janet Mathis requested approval of City Administrator Lew Steinbrecher’s recommendation for development of the private portion of the Quad Cities Multi-Modal Facility Project. The City Council approved Restoration Saint Louis, Inc., of St. Louis, MO, (www.restorationstl.com), as the project’s master developer and agreed that City and Renew Moline staff should continue to work with Financial District Properties, Davenport, Iowa, on the development of other property adjacent to the current O’Rourke Building.
The Restoration Saint Louis initial conceptual plan is for a mixed used, high density development which includes conversion of five of the six stories of the historic O’Rourke Building and a newly-constructed, 5-floor, attached building to contain extended stay and market rate apartments. A 150 room three or four star hotel owned by Restoration Saint Louis and operated by Innkeeper Hospitality Services L.L.C., will be located on the east end of the triangular-shaped parcel of land. Overland connections across current and future rail tracks are anticipated on both the east and the west ends of the property to give access to the John Deere Commons and the i-wireless Center.
Restoration Saint Louis has worked on a variety of major historic rehabilitation projects in the Midwest, bringing new life and uses to vacant or underused buildings. The company also operates successful hotels in Missouri and Iowa, including the historic Hotel Blackhawk in Davenport.
“Moline is a wonderful city. I am thrilled that our company was chosen as the private developer of this community capstone project which will benefit the entire Quad Cities region,” said Amy Gill, Chief Executive Officer of Restoration Saint Louis, Inc. “We look forward to working with City and Renew Moline staff, neighbors, and other stakeholders to create an active and vibrant retail and residential community which will serve to further the redevelopment of the 4th Avenue corridor. The final development plan will be the culmination of careful analysis, neighborhood engagement and our team’s desire to create a distinctive development that brings more market rate housing, encourages transit use, and respects the rich history of its location.”
Financial District Properties (www.financialdistrictproperties.com), the developer of the current KONE Centre project, has proposed a complementary development adjacent to the Multi-Modal property in the area west of 12th Street. The initial concepts include a multi-use building which will include retail and office space, and the construction of a 600+ car garage. The developments will interconnect with the Multi-Modal building, the Centre Station parking deck and, ultimately, the i-wireless Center through a series of skywalks.
Rodney Blackwell, Managing Principal, Financial District Properties, said, “As we near the completion of the transformational KONE Centre project on Moline’s riverfront, I look forward to again utilizing the Design-Build Project Management Team process through the city and Renew Moline to make sure this multi-layered, transit-enhanced development is coordinated with all of the other developers, architects, partners and stakeholders. Financial District Properties is here to stay and look forward to continuing to work on developments which benefit downtown Quad Cites.”
These private developments will be complimentary to the Quad Cities Multi-Modal Station (MMS) which is slated to be completed and ready for operation by 2014 in the O’Rourke Building. In partnership with the City, MetroLINK is manager of the more than $16 million in federal and state transportation funds obligated toward the MMS to provide the first Amtrak service to the region in more than thirty years. An additional $177 million in federal funds have been obligated to the State of Illinois to create a high speed rail corridor which will also serve this project.