MKSK, a world-renowned landscape architectural firm, boasts a number of large-scale world-class projects including this one in LaFayette, Indiana. The firm is vying to redesign 13 acres of Moline riverfront. CREDIT MKSK
A world-class team is ready to get to work on its promise to create a master plan that will transform Moline’s riverfront after the Moline City Council voted Tuesday, Aug. 22, to approve a $500,000 contract with MKSK Studios. The city’s swift approval wasn’t surprising given council members’ favorable reaction last week to a remote […]
A world-class team is ready to get to work on its promise to create a master plan that will transform Moline’s riverfront after the Moline City Council voted Tuesday, Aug. 22, to approve a $500,000 contract with MKSK Studios.The city’s swift approval wasn’t surprising given council members’ favorable reaction last week to a remote presentation by the top leaders of the Columbus-Ohio-based design and architectural firm that also was the top pick of Renew Moline and key city staffers. The “once-in-a-generation” planning effort features an ambitious and “outstanding scope” of work, Moline City Administrator Bob Vitas said Tuesday. It also boasts an aggressive timeline that calls for MKSK’s team of experts to deliver the final document by September 2024. Along the way, public input and engagement also will be a priority.Competition for the opportunity to take on the project was fierce, Moline project leaders have said. In all, 18 world-class firms vied for the chance to plan a new, more connected and vibrant future for the mostly city-owned land along the Mississippi River, which was opened up by the still ongoing demolition of the old Interstate 74 Bridge and construction of the new one.Planning for those newly created and significantly changed spaces was launched years before the old bridge came down and the new one was completed. For much of that earlier time, the redevelopment plans had been led by Renew Moline President & CEO Alexandra Elias.At Tuesday’s meeting, Mr. Vitas thanked Ms. Elias and the city’s former Community and Economic Development Director Ryan Hvitlok for their efforts to get the project going on the front end. The effort was kicked into high gear, he said, with the acquisition of the city’s acquisition of the old Kone property.Mr. Vitas said he expects the MKSK master plan that will result to “create a long term future downtown that will not only benefit Moliners but all Quad Citizens and every business that comes to the Quad Cities.”The city administrator, who wrote the contract the council inked Tuesday, also was a member of the committee of eight that considered all 18 proposals before recommending MKSK.On Wednesday, Mr. Vitas told the QCBJ, the $500,000 for the project is from the city’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) allocation. He called the 11-month project “one of the most important undertakings by the city following the purchase of the Bridgepoint 485 property from the Heritage Church in December of 2022.”The master plan project’s goal is designed “to create a multi-generational development area that serves as a wonderful destination for Moliners, Quad Citizens and visitors from nearby and afar,” he added. “MKSK and the consortium of consulting firms they assembled is world class and we are thrilled to have them on board.”Going forward, MKSK also has promised to engage the community in the planning and to use the input to draft the new plan that will create a riverfront worthy of Moline and the Quad Cities.As firm’s Chicago-based studio wrote in document introducing its proposed scope of services:“Our proposed five-phase, eleven-month-long effort is designed to be collaborative and yield an actionable and implementable vision for Downtown Moline’s riverfront and the I-74 corridor. As demonstrated in our qualifications, MSKS and our team members have track records of delivering transformative planning projects with award-winning results throughout the country. "Our team endeavors with this approach to satisfy the desire of the City of Moline and Renew Moline to leverage this once-in-a-generation investment in infrastructure propelling Moline, the Mississippi Riverfront and the Quad Cities forward.”MKSK project leaders, who addressed the city council via Zoom on Tuesday, Aug.15, said they are ready to get started.“We’ve been so excited to be a part of it from the moment we got involved this past year,” said Brett Weidl, MKSK Chicago Studio leader, and a landscape architect principal with MKSK, which is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio.MKSK has created some of the most stunning riverfront developments in the United States, Moline city leaders say. Among them are the Sciotto Mile in Columbus, Ohio, and the District Wharf Promenade in Washington, D.C. The latter project, Ms. Elias told the QCBJ on Wednesday, Aug. 23, is an excellent example of the kind of riverfront development that can be created in downtown Moline, only on a smaller scale.
