Moline is knee-deep in the effort to create a world-class plan to help the city seize a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to transform the vacant land created in and around the old and new Interstate 74 bridges. Indeed, if all goes as planned, Moline Community and Economic Development Director Ryan Hvitlok and Renew Moline President and CEO Alexandra […]
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Moline is knee-deep in the effort to create a world-class plan to help the city seize a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to transform the vacant land created in and around the old and new Interstate 74 bridges.
Indeed, if all goes as planned, Moline Community and Economic Development Director Ryan Hvitlok and Renew Moline President and CEO Alexandra Elias are getting ready to entertain multiple Requests for Expressions of Interest (RFEIs) about the project.
Mr. Hvitlok was hoping to hear from a large number of consultants with the experience and knowledge needed to turn acres of prime riverfront real estate into a transformative development.
The deadline for submitting those documents was Tuesday, Feb. 28. Mr. Hvitlok told the QCBJ at press time that Moline leaders had sent RFEIs to about 25 firms who are qualified to do waterfront redevelopment plans and have a history of creating great ones. Those consultants were in major cities including Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Bloomington, North Carolina; Cleveland, Ohio. Others were in regional communities including Cedar Rapids and Dubuque, Iowa.
“This is not a once-in-a-career opportunity, it’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity” from an economic development perspective, Mr. Hvitlok stressed.
In a landlocked city like Moline, he said, “Where else do you find 34 acres that you can actually develop and a prime location at what we like to say is our billion-dollar front porch?”
Sweetening the pot, he said, is that the site is located in the footprint of a one-of-a-kind, award-winning structure that is “more than a bridge, it’s a unique centerpiece for our region.”
Even early on, interest in the project was high. In fact, Mr. Hvitlok said he was “shocked” when 65 consultants representing some 40 firms took part in a pre-submittal call about the massive project.
According to the RFEI itself, the planning area focuses primarily on the development opportunity presented by the construction of the new I-74 Bridge, and the removal of the old I-74 Bridge. The changed traffic patterns and land that will and has become available creates opportunities for public spaces including pedestrian connections and new open spaces, and private development sites, the request said.
The City of Moline and John Deere are the largest landowners in the area. The city-owned property includes the former Bridgepointe 485 property Moline bought in December 2022 – a six-acre site that was home of the former Montgomery Elevator Company, later KONE. Moline believes the site “will present a unique and challenging development opportunity.”
The RFEI also points to city land purchases made possible in July 2022 when new legislation was signed by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker to allow municipalities a “right of first refusal” for property no longer needed by the Illinois Department of Transportation.
Thanks to that legislation and the city’s acquisition of the Bridgepointe property, Moline now controls all property north of River Drive to the immediate west of the new bridge, or about 13 acres.
According to the RFEI, the city hopes to use the RFEI responses to identify best practices in riverfront redevelopment as well as create a list of qualified firms they can use to seek formal Requests for Proposals (RFP) this spring.
RFEI identifies the master plan area as loosely bounded by the Mississippi River, Seventh Avenue, 23th Street and 18th Street. A secondary area expands the master plan area to the east to 25th Street.
The planning area “focuses primarily on the development opportunity presented by the construction of the new I-74 bridge, and the removal of the old I-74 Bridge,” the document said. The land created by those projects includes opportunities to create pedestrian connections, new open spaces and private development sites.
The city also encourages the master plan consultant to take into account previous planning efforts that have been done as well as the latest draft of a new form-based code the city is in the process of creating for the city’s downtown center. (See the related story below.)
“What we have said is that the city has done a lot of planning efforts for years downtown and we expect whoever we name to do this will review all those plans and incorporate those ideas in their plan,” Mr. Hvitlok said.
The city’s ultimate goal is to create a plan “that we can actually implement” that contains real numbers, he added. “We want to find out: OK, what’s it going to cost in public and private investment to get that done because that’s the big question.”
He also is hoping for some specific recommendations. Earlier efforts, were simply “bubble diagrams that said, ‘in this area we’d kind of like to see something along this line,’” Mr. Hvitlok said. “We’re really hoping to get some very kind of narrowed down plan that says, ‘This is what we want to do. This is what it’s going to cost in terms of improvements to do it and here’s what it’s going to cost in terms of the road improvements or new utilities and things like that.’”
In addition to land planners with expertise regarding public-private partnerships, Mr. Hvitlok said, through the RFEI the city also is looking for others who have experience in dealing with flood issues and working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Once the city reviews the RFEIs it receives, Mr. Hvitlok said, staff will begin drafting a RFP that will then be run by all parties that will need to approve it with the hope that the final RFP is “out on the street” by the end of March.
Then by early June, Mr. Hvitlok said, a planner “can hit the ground running and hopefully have this wrapped up by February or March of 2024.”
