MOLINE, IL | Bass Street Landing Mixed Use (and new tallest) | 20 FLOORS | PRO

[aaron38]

Developer aims to alter Moline's skyline

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r86/aaron38/Moline/Moline1.jpg

Moline officials and Quad-City developer Rodney Blackwell announced plans this morning for a mixed-use high-rise that will complete the Bass Street Landing project in downtown Moline and could bring more than $50 million in investment to the community.
Bowman said Blackwell has changed the “design and scope” of the building somewhat from his announcement made last spring about the project. Bowman said the high-rise could be up to 20 stories tall, which he said would make it the tallest building in Moline. In addition, he said the building would be “mixed-use, with luxury condominiums on the top floors, offices in the middle, and the lower levels, including ground level, will be retail.”http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2007/09/27/news/local/doc46fb3e0233221502514770.txt


While visiting the parents in my old hometown of Moline, IL on the Mississippi River, I heard about plans to build a mixed use development on the river that at 20 stories would be the tallest building in Moline.
The current record holder is the 168ft, 15 story LeClaire hotel built in 1921.

The building would have 3 floors of retail, 9 floors of Class A office space for elevator company Kone, and 8 floors of luxury condos with great river views.

Yes, in the global scheme of things this is pretty minor news, but how often do I get to post a thread about Moline?
Life has returned to a riverfront downtown that was given up for dead. It's become an entertainment and residential destination, something I never would have thought possible 10 years ago. It's great to see new development reviving an old downtown area.

[Steely Dan]

^ that's pretty cool.

would this be a new tallest for the quad cities as well, or just the new tallest in moline? what is the current tallest building in the quad cities? i'm guessing it's in davenport?

[Nowhereman1280]

Is Kone Elevators based in Moline? Also, does he have them signed as an anchor tenant? If so, it seems like the construction of this building is practically guaranteed.

[CenIL_LA]

Moline has some pretty ambitious plans including a future urban WIU extension campus along with transit oriented development. Molines downtown is quite nice but you cant tell from the interestate driving through. This project makes sense if Kone locates offices there, they are planning a new bridge in the future that might take the current offices down. Its nice to see Moline doing good where Davenport takes a step forward but always another two backward.

[aaron38]

The tallest building in the Quad Cities is Davenport's Wells Fargo Bank Building.
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r86/aaron38/Moline/DavenportWellsFargo.jpg
It's either 240ft or 255ft to the top of the clock tower, I've got conflicting info.
So I don't think this will best that, but it would definitely be 2nd place, and the tallest on the Illinois side.

Kone is globally headquartered in Findland. Moline is their US headquarters. But the article said the headquarters is actually moving to Lisle, but they would keep major Moline operations and be the anchor tenant for this building.

[rds989]

Kone is in Moline because they took over Moline's Mongomery Elevator Co. Coming across the I-74 bridge (I grew up in Davenport), you get an eyeful of Mongomery's very unusual hq building, which is a few floors of office on top of a big elevator shaft -- think lil' smokey on a toothpick. The wikipedia page on KONE has a picture of the Montgomery building near the bottom of the entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KONE

Didn't Robert Venturi write something "learning from las vegas" about how it is a good thing for buildings to function in part as advertisements? Well, Montgomery Elevator is a great example: "Look, our elevators are so good and safe, we wouldn't even want to be able to get to our offices without pointlessly riding one!"


Too bad main N. Am. hq is moving to Lisle. Even with KONE serving as anchor of new building, it is not so good to lose top mgmt.

[aaron38]

Yes, you're right. Is there any better building for an elevator company than this?
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r86/aaron38/Moline/MontgomeryKoneMoline.jpg

[Alliance]

Moline has a skyline to alter? :haha:

[spyguy]

It's good to see some highrise development in IL outside of the Chicago region.

I also forgot how cool their old building is.

[aeathin2]

I wish there would be some development in downtown Peoria.

[CenIL_LA]

Its not a Peoria Thread but Peoria does have some development going on, though its taking way too long such as the Caterpillar Visitors Center and Relocated Lake Museum. Across the river in East Peoria they just built and Embassy Suites and an 11 floor office building. Still the style most of this is developed in central Peoria is not far from a suburban style. I thought I heard that Peoria is looking to expand its warehouse loft/condo district in the near future as well. It has a good amount of warehouses left unused.

[Lost Island]

This has always held my award for radical strangeness. (Niagara Falls, Canada)
http://www.infoniagara.com/attractions/minolta/images/minolta.jpg

But congratulations. This is even stranger...
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r86/aaron38/Moline/MontgomeryKoneMoline.jpg

must make for an interesting skyline anyway

[aaron38]

The fabulous Moline skyline!
(Does two buildings make a skyline?)
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r86/aaron38/Moline/Molineskyline3.jpg
You can see it here, at Christmas time they helicopter lift a giant evergreen Christmas tree to the top of the Kone tower.

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r86/aaron38/Moline/Molineskyline2.jpg

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r86/aaron38/Moline/Molineskyline1.jpg

[aeathin2]

Its not a Peoria Thread but Peoria does have some development going on, though its taking way too long such as the Caterpillar Visitors Center and Relocated Lake Museum. Across the river in East Peoria they just built and Embassy Suites and an 11 floor office building. Still the style most of this is developed in central Peoria is not far from a suburban style. I thought I heard that Peoria is looking to expand its warehouse loft/condo district in the near future as well. It has a good amount of warehouses left unused. Yea I was just commenting on how someone said it was nice to see some development in Illinois outside of Chicago. Peoria has really tried to pump life into downtown and the riverfront, but IMO they need to have a couple reasonably priced high rise apartment complexes downtown to attract the younger crowd to the downtown area. There is actually some development going on in Champaign, but this is a great project for Moline...and I have seen that Kone building and wondered what the junk it was.

[simcityaustin]

This is good news. Davenport has really been pushing residents to move into the new loft-type apartments downtown, and it looks like the Illinois side is doing the same. Moline has done a nice job around The Mark (I think it's since changed names) It would be nice to see John Deere invest into something like this too. They could definetly consolidate some of their offices around the Quad Cities area.

Always love hearing about my hometown!! I'll definetly keep tabs on this one when I go visit my parents.

[Wheelingman04]

Thanks for posting this good news.

[Xing]

Fantastic for the Quads!

[simcityaustin]

KONE aims high at Bass Street Landing
(http://www.wqad.com/Global/story.asp?S=7138331)

"Today we announce a $50 million project that will not only compliment the existing downtown development, but it will clearly shape the skyline of Moline in the future," said Moline Mayor Don Welvaert.

"The city, state, KONE and developer are working together to try to put the package together to make this happen," Mayor Welvaert said. "I'm very, very positive we'll get this done."

Blackwell would like to break ground in February 2008, with about an 18-month construction period to follow."

Just another (slightly dated) news tidbit.

[dallasbrink]

Thats a nice tower.

[aaron38]

http://www.qctimes.com/articles/2007/12/11/news/business/doc475792eb00212168737623.txt

Moline to help finance replacement for Kone's buildings
Tuesday, December 11, 2007

The Moline City Council agreed Tuesday night to sell $7.5 million in bonds to fund a loan to developer Rodney Blackwell, managing principal of Financial District Properties K.P., so he can purchase downtown buildings owned by Kone, the elevator company involved in the deal.
City Administrator Lew Steinbrecher said the agreement Blackwell reached with Kone calls for the company to lease space in Blackwell’s new office tower and for Blackwell to purchase all of Kone’s downtown properties.

“He approached the city because the city can borrow funds at lower interest rates,” Steinbrecher said.

Steinbrecher and Jeff Lester, city law director, said the city normally is not the primary lender in such a project. But in this instance, Kone, a major Moline employer, likely would have moved out of the city had the agreement not been made for it to move into the new tower.

[aaron38]

I wonder if this is going to become more common during this credit crunch? The city is basically acting as the early lender for the project.

It sounds like an interesting arangement. The city loans the developer money, who then buy's Kone's existing buildings, and Kone then pays the developer rent, with the rent presumably going to finance the construction of the new tower.

But it sounds like a construction loan is still needed, but it's progress.

[Nowhereman1280]

I hope they don't tear down that old tower! Its so cool and such a great piece of advertisement, art, and architecture!

[CenIL_LA]

I hope they don't tear down that old tower! Its so cool and such a great piece of advertisement, art, and architecture!

For now I dont know if it actually sits as a threat to this specific development as it is located on the other side of the interstate bridge further upriver. Although future bridge reallignment plans could potentially ride right over the towers footprint as the bridge is severely outdated in design capacity. The need to keep the old span open while the new one is under construction and possibly save one of the old historic spans will overide the desire to save the tower.

[ardecila]

Wow, that suspension bridge is awesome! That's an asset right there. Does it allow pedestrian traffic across?

[simcityaustin]

^^^ No it doesn't. It is also in the planning stages of being replaced with this...

http://projects.ch2m.com/I74Study/CorridorAlt/images/true-arch_night-view.jpg

http://projects.ch2m.com/I74Study/CorridorAlt/images/true-arch_aerial-view.jpg

There is a website devoted to the bridge replacement here (http://www.i74corridorstudy.org/)

[aaron38]

I hadn't seen that new bridge design before. It's not bad.

I know the current I-74 bridge has to go eventually, but I'm really going to miss it. It's like a miniature version of the Golden Gate. Suspension bridges just look so much better to me.

[simcityaustin]

^^^ Yes, the I-74 bridge is very iconic for the Quad Cities. I don't think you'll see it go anytime soon ,because there have been some federal funding issues with it. However, hopefully the new Kone tower and new bridge will bring a new era to the QC and trigger some more Bettendorf/Moline downtown projects.

and 100th post! Glad to have made it in a thread about my hometown!

[ardecila]

I know the current I-74 bridge has to go eventually, but I'm really going to miss it. It's like a miniature version of the Golden Gate. Suspension bridges just look so much better to me.

Why can't it be refurbished? Good designs shouldn't be trashed just because somebody in the FHWA has a hard-on for arch bridges.

It's not even a good-looking arch like the Bayonne or Hell Gate Bridges.

[aaron38]

The bridge doesn't have structural problems, it has capacity problems. It's the main link across the Mississippi for the Quad Cities and is overloaded.
It's also two lanes each way with no shoulder, which tends to freak out drivers. I still remember my first time driving across at 16. It's a white knuckler till you get used to it.
And because there's no shoulder, everytime there's an accident one direction completely shuts down, and a tow truck usually has to go down the wrong way to get to the wreck.

They've been planning a new Mississippi bridge for 15 years, and it'll probably be 15 more, but eventually...

[CenIL_LA]

Why can't it be refurbished? Good designs shouldn't be trashed just because somebody in the FHWA has a hard-on for arch bridges.

It's not even a good-looking arch like the Bayonne or Hell Gate Bridges.

There are a number of people that want to attempt to save the original span for a pedestrian/bike path connection between the two sides of the river. One of the spans was originally built in 1925. The other was built around 1960 for the interstate. It is an amazing bridge...especially considering that care was taken to duplicate it perfectly for then highway modernization in the 60s. I would find it hard to believe that if both bridges get torn down that there wouldnt be some public outcry. I remember better bridge versions in 2003-4 where suspension bridges dominated. One design included a tower that i believe was to be nearly 500 feet tall. I could be remembering that incorrectly. Back to topic this new building will be encouraged by Moline as they normally are by the city. Moline gets a lot of help too from John Deere and other companies I believe for the community. Davenport usually only gets things accomplished with state money. If Davenport wasnt its own seperate city, downtown Moline would quite impressive. Considering the closeness of Rock Island, Moline and Davenport they all managed to support their own successful business districts with thier own department stores even until the malls came. The Quad Cities are very successful at home grown business.

[rockyi]

Damn, this thread has been around for months and I just now find it. (Thanks for the PM, Aaron :tup:)

This here is the latest rendering of the Bass Street Tower.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v353/Dodger6500/blog/bassstreethighrise.jpg
thanks to http://absolutedsm.com/

Hopefully work will begin on it soon. Groundbreaking was supposed to be in April of '08 but hit some snags and redtape.
And regarding the new bridge, I hate to say it but, while the old I-74 twin suspention bridge IS beautiful and a major landmark, the sooner they replace it the better. I hate crossing that bridge which I only do a few times a week. Since I live in Rock Island and work in Davenport, I usually use the Centennial Bridge or the Arsenal Bridge. Crossing I-74s incredibly narrow spans is always a treat. Traffic is either at a complete standstill due to construction or an accident, or when traffic is flowing it's zipping along at 75 MPH or faster (which is followed by an accident which brings on another traffic jam). Pretty unnerving.
I'll look through my albums and dig up some more Moline photos.

[rockyi]

Here are some downtown Moline photos I took over the years.
For an old industrial city, it cleans up very nicely.

(I took most of these pics on a hot, humid Saturday evening which explains the lack of people.)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/rockyi/Dcp_0839.jpg

You'll see the influence of John Deere everywhere.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/rockyi/Dcp_0834.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/rockyi/Dcp_0825.jpg

John Deere Collectors Center was designed to look like an old farm implement showroom.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/rockyi/Dcp_0828.jpg

My favorite German pub in a pic I took about 5 years ago.
This building has since been repainted in four muted Victorian colors. It looks beautiful.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/rockyi/Dcp_0862.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/rockyi/Dcp_0863.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/rockyi/Dcp_0864.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/rockyi/Dcp_0860.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/rockyi/034_3.jpg

Bass Street Landing has mixed old, formerly abandoned buildings with new structures.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/rockyi/031_6.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v420/rockyi/030_7.jpg

[aaron38]

Thanks for those Rockyi. I miss Moline.

[rockyi]

You're welcome. It's nice to see how far we've come since those dark days of the 1980's.