The former Moline Dispatch newspaper building in downtown Moline is “on track” to become a 40-unit apartment building in a few months, according to a City of Moline official.
If the project progresses, the new housing option could be open to renters sometime next year.
“The project is on track for a construction start later this fall. The building plans remain unchanged for the 40-unit residential apartment development. The city will bring forth an ordinance for a redevelopment agreement in the coming month to support the project,” Christopher Parr, Moline’s economic development manager, told the QCBJ on Thursday, Oct. 2.
As of Thursday, that ordinance was not on a Moline City Council meeting agenda. However, Mr. Parr said it is expected to be added to a meeting agenda in the coming days.
The Moline City Council approved a resolution centering on the downtown building transformation project on July 8, during its committee of the whole meeting. That resolution designates the developer and addresses financing issues for the renovation project through tax increment financing (TIF). The former newspaper building is located at 1720 5th Ave.
Part of the resolution approved in July states:
- LA Nights, LLC is the owner and developer of the former Dispatch building, which will be known as the Moline Apartments, LLC. LA Nights has submitted a proposal to the city to transform the building into 40 market-rate apartments including 26 one-bedroom/studio units and 14 two-bedroom units. An off-street parking lot is planned for the east side of the building. (In fact, part of the vacant building was demolished in the summer of 2022 to make way for parking. That demolition work focused on the eastern 130 feet of the former Dispatch building.)
- The developer has informed the city that the building project requires financial assistance and would seek private sector financing.
- The developer desires that costs related to the project qualify for consideration as Redevelopment Project costs that can be reimbursed through tax increment financing.
Here are some key dates and events in the history of the newspaper building and The Dispatch newspaper:
- The Small Newspaper Group (SNG) of Kankakee, Illinois, which was run by the Small family, bought The Daily Dispatch on Feb. 28, 1969. Len R. Small announced in 1986 that SNG had purchased The Rock Island Argus for an undisclosed sum.
- For a number of years, the Moline Dispatch Publishing Co. operated the two newspapers out of separate buildings in Moline and Rock Island. (In addition, in 1994 the organization created Quad-Cities Online, the first online newspaper in the Quad Cities. It was located in Moline.)
- The two print newspapers began sharing a growing amount of content while maintaining separate editorial pages and offices until the Smalls began gradually moving staff to the Dispatch building at 1720 Fifth Ave. Moline. On Dec. 11, 2009, SNG sold the vacant historic downtown Rock Island Argus building.
- In 2016, the news organization laid off its press operators and the last issue of The Dispatch-Argus came off the presses on Feb. 28, 2016, at its 1720 Fifth Ave. site. Printing responsibilities were transferred to a contractor in Cedar Rapids.
- On June 19, 2017, the Smalls announced The Dispatch-Argus and QuadCitiesOnline.com had been sold for $7.15 million to Davenport-based Lee Enterprises, publisher of the rival Quad-City Times.
- Former staffers who were retained by Lee continued to work out of the Moline Dispatch building until December 2017, when the newsroom operation was moved to a remodeled office suite at East Moline Glass Co. The staff was later moved to the Quad-City Times building in downtown Davenport.
The Dispatch building, which was not included in the sale to Lee, eventually was put on the market and listed for $295,000. According to the listing, the building was built in 1949 and contains 53,004 rentable square feet of office and warehouse space.
