This is going to be one of the neatest areas of the building. The image on the left is from my pre-renovation tour almost a year ago, and the image on the right was taken today. They've reused these old doors in what would have otherwise been a plain hallway, with the actual apartment doors interspersed between the old metal-clad doors.
Here's a view out of a south-facing window, which will someday be improved by the destruction of the cement plant. It had a pretty good view of the lock and dam, even with the trees, but my camera isn't much for zooming in.
The view to the west, which could someday include a repainted bridge and hopefully a renovated Blackhawk hotel. It will also probably include washed windows.
The view to the east is the building I live in, the Crescent Macaroni Building or Davenport Lofts. People on both sides of the street will have to be mindful of keeping their blinds closed if they don't want an audience.Alexander Company is hopeful that people will be able to start moving into the 4th Street Lofts by December, and 5 apartments are already rented, despite this week being the first time any potential renters have been able to get in to see the building.
27 comments:
Yeah, the property manager would like to see that used for the Alexander leasing office, which would be an excellent adaptive reuse. We'll see what happens.
This is fantastic. Thanks for the pictures QCI. There is no way to measure the impact of the Alexander development. If nothing else comes from River Renaissance, I would have to say the warehouse redevelopment spin off made everything worth while.
And for those that don’t know, the only reason the Alexander folks invested in Davenport was the RR movement.
Great quality pictures, not!
Get a new camera, Dork!
The first two pictures look like they were taken in cellblock D of the scott county Jail.
To 10:47 AM and 11:28 AM.....
ASSHOLES!
Why tear down the old cement plant when the city taxpayers could chip in enough to make it into some condo's or even another John Lewis Homeless Shelter. It is part of davenport history and should be preserved forever.
The old cement plant could really stimulate tourism; just like all the people that fly into Davenport to see our world famous skybridge. Think of the possibilities !
You guys must really enjoy being so negative all the time.
This could be big. Have a whole weekend cement festival. The city council could donate $60,000 and project pictures of the cement plant out on some fog over the river. There could be cement truck rides to Galesburg, with premium tickets getting a Happy Meal at Micky D's. D1 should get a committee going on plans right now.
River Rennassance II is just the thing to turn around our failing downtown area. Next, we should build the Cement Music Experience right down the street from the Figge Cement Museum. If all this takes off, Davenporter's may have to build more parking ramps, and block more of the river view with huge hotels.
How did 11:28 know what cell block D looks like?
Geez, I really expected better comments on this one. Here Alexander is turning one of our worst blighted areas into loft apartments, and this is what people have to say?
Go ahead and make fun of RiverWay and this redevelopment. They both are successes whether you guys recognize it or not.
Alexander really needs to be looking at the state of our rental market. It is not in good shape. We have too much rental property and not enough good tenants to fill them. So, we are getting and keeping more people like the Howards and like the gang members from Chicago. This town is going down the tubes and fast. We need to stop encouraging the development of more rentals. We can't take it much more.
So people will move out of the crappy, Northwood Village-type places and into nice, well-managed Alexander apartments, causing the bad apartments to go bankrupt. That's the market at work. (and what Pedcor claimed they would do)
...of course, if you're a QCRPA slumlord that specializes in crappy apartments, this is bad news.
If Northwood Village got as many tax incentives and handouts from the City as Alexander does, the story would be far different. Put all complexes on an even playing field to be fair.
Just look at all the money that The Alexander Company has spent on the Macaroni Building, and it doesn't look much better on the outside than when it was abandoned. Sure hope they did a better job on the inside. No wonder they get cheap rent there.
Years ago, everything south of East 6th and east of Brady should have been leveled. Urban Renewal is the way to revitalize our old, crappy looking downtown.
God QCI, you need a community planning course of some kind. Plus, you need to open your eyes. Do you honestly think that Northwood Village type places are our only slum rental problems. You need to advocate for the area around you that is filled with bad rentals. The only way you will see long term success is to improve the bad rentals around you. Hold those bad landlords accountable for thier actions and for the slum they own and manage.
Well, NW Village is just my favorite one to pick on. I fully realize there are many bad landlords, hence my QCRPA mention. I just think that adding quality rental properties can only bring up the general standard of the entire housing segment.
Also, to whoever says we get cheap rent, I'd like to disagree.
Get with the lingo QCI. The slumlords are now known as Qcrap'ers.
NO QCI - part of our problem is adding more rentals - that will help create me slum rentals. We need to rid ourselves of the slum rentals before you add more rentals. We need to stop the produciton of more rental properties hre in Davenport. We don't have enough people to fill them. We need a Sugar daddy to buy up the bad rentals and convert them back into single family homes renovated. We need more then anything though to get a grip on our crime situation. It is out of control. Why don't people demand a new chief? Why aren't we demanding something different happen in how we approach crime?
The city needs to be attracting homw BUYERS. I had to rent for a few years before I finally bought a home, and let me tell you, even though I rented in a complex that I thought was a "good" one, it was hell. Not because of gangsters and crime, which is a whole other issue, but because the complex was just one big dorm. A bunch of 20 somethings going to one of the schools here in Davenport, probably on Daddy's dime, and not giving a hoot about their neighbors. Loud obnoxious music and parties at all hours. Why should they care? They figure their rent is paid and they have the "right" to be as loud and obnoxious as they please. They have no incentive to be good neighbors, because, they know they'll be moving on soon, anyway. I lived in my apartment for seven years, and each unit above, below and on either side, had different sets of renters each year. These were always "good", mostly white kids, and I can tell you they had no regard for the property, especially if it was a Friday or Saturday night. I know not everyone is in the position to buy, but I just think flooding this city with rentals brings in people who don't feel invested. And even "good" renters can be bad neighbors! Now, the whole slumlord/gangster relationship is a completely different issue and needs to be addressed before we can attract and KEEP good renters and BUYERS in the city. And the whole, "Build it and they will come.." and force out the "bad" is WAY naive!
Those people you describe don't sound like good renters to me. Just because they're not gangsters doesn't make them "good" renters.
Why didn't the management do something about them having loud parties at all hours? Of course, maybe people do that here too, but foot-thick cement floors prevent me from knowing.
Some renters just aren't at a place in their life where they can or want to buy a house. Some are also empty-nesters that may not be able to buy an expensive condo. I'll be interested to see how the Oneida Landing condos sell, because it seems like vertical condo projects are pretty uncommon around here.
Also, I'm a renter, do you feel I'm not invested in Davenport, or care about my neighborhood?
Management was called ALL the time about the noise and parties. They don't care. They just want their rent money. I'm not saying all renters are bad. I was a renter as well for years. I feel I was a good renter. And, yes, like you, felt invested in my community. I'm just saying the MAJORITY of renters are not. There is, of course, a place for nice rentals for the people you describe. But the city has to attract a certain demographic, even in renters. Or else you just get people drifting who don't care about the property, the neighbors or the community. I'm not trying to be confrontational. I just get the feeling I've been around the block a few more times than you have and my once idealic outlook has become more pragmatic! :-)
Davenport's problems aren't unique. Why not study other cities that have had many of the same problems (i.e. crime and slum rentals), and find out what they've done, what worked, what didn't, etc.?
Davenport tried to do this when they went to see how Dubuque was combating vacant houses, and have had mixed results so far. The jury is still out on that one. But attacking problems this way allows us to base our plan on facts and lessons-learned instead of opinions.
After Dubuque, the QCRAPERS twisted the stats from Dub and had many aldermen and staff believing that we were the same community and we aren't. One fix doesn't fit all problems.
The bottom line is that Davenport does not enforce its codes. So, this leads to bad rental properties owned and managed by people hwo could care less about our environment. Davenprot does not aggressively go after bad landlords and we give them chance after chance to correct the serious problems they create.
We must crack the whip and then we shall see a change.
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