And here is Pioneer98's post about it.
Today was the grand opening of the newest Alexander Company project, the 4th Street Lofts. This building is located on the north side of 4th between Pershing and Iowa. From what I'm hearing, 20 of the 53 apartments were already spoken for prior to the grand opening and all the media coverage that it will bring. If you're hoping to get an apartment in the Crescent Warehouse District, you'd better get one while there's any left.
D1 Redcoats, Alderman Frink, David Vos, and others cutting the ribbon in the indoor parking garage.
A decent-sized crowd for speeches and a ribbon cutting, and the view of downtown from the rooftop deck.
A couple shots of apartment interiors. The industrial urban loft look isn't for everyone, but its a hit with many people.
18 comments:
It was bad timing that you weren't up on the roof deck at 4:30 QCI. You could have had wonderful photo's of that guy shooting his girlfriend 3 times. (Those speed camera's really do make us all feel safer.)
Every week it's some serious inncident in this neighborhood. If it's not a shooting, it's a drug addict being taken from downtown out to the county and toasted like a marshmallow. We have spent alot of money downtown trying to bring it back, but with all this crime constantly, good stores like Walmart, Hyvee and Schnucks will never select a downtown location. Part of the problem stems from several years ago, when Rock Island really cracked down, and all the thugs came over to Davenport. To change things, maybe we need to hire the police chief and the city administrator away from Rock Island, and they can run these people out of town.
I agree - this compnay has done a lot and they should because they are making tons of money here with the tax credits. They are not risking a thing by the way. Alexander got money from tax credits. They are being paid to do this. They are accountable not to us as a city, but the the out of town investors who purchased the tax credits. I am not criticizing, just commenting. We need to give private development the same kudos as these tax credit investors. We need them both equally or I submit that we need private investors more.
Were the red coats at the Cityview open house? If not, why? That guy spend millions to renovate that building - relieving us as a city for its upkeep. By the way, the Cityview guy did his renovation for millions less then the Alexander company because it was private money. The tax credit program waste a lot of tax dollars by inflating the cost of renovations and new construction. I believe the tax credit projects need to be reined in a little and made more reasonable to us tax payers.
The red coat thing is odd.
The CityView cost millions less because it had just been renovated a few years ago. Its also a lot cheaper to turn apartments into apartments than a warehouse into apartments.
I'm not sure if the CityView had a grand opening, but the Redcoats would have gladly attended. They'll cut a ribbon for just about anything.
Thanks to the cityview developers, who did that project without getting into the taxpayers wallets.
They are like Ommmpa Loompas.
The "DavenportOne Red Coats". I love it.
Why is the kitchen stuff so cheap? This is costly project with our tax dollars, why so cheap?
Perhaps quality buckled for a hefty developer fee using our tax dollars, the rich are getting richer off the poorest of the poor.
In the tax credit business, the rich need the poor to get rich. It is a sick thing we do. We/Thye have a vested interest in keeping the blighted areas ever so slightly blighted because the money goes away if we actually make improvements. Ever wonder why we don't just go after the blight with a vengence? Staff knows.We have to keep a portion of the city around the downtown poor in order to get federal HUD and tax credit $$. It is wrong.
Wow, Anon 9pm. That's some seriously cynical stuff.
I find it pretty hard to believe anybody is trying to keep the blight just so they can get some tax benefits. On the contrary, the developers would like nothing more than to see the area improve so they can charge more for the apartments. The tax benefits would then only disappear for new projects, while they'd already have their tax-advantaged pioneer project up and running and ready to rake it in.
On a different note: how loud are the trains when they go by? There are still trains that use that bridge outside, right?
Yes, the trains use them, but they're not very loud. Since there aren't grade crossings, they don't use their air horns except occasionally to signal the Arsenal Bridge control house.
When the steam trains were going by during RiverWay, they used their whistles plenty, and I could definitely hear those.
11:05- I hate to tell you this but the tax credits were given to the developers under certain conditions. They can't charge more then what they agreed to. They can't take tax credit money and then later decide it is a market rate rent complex. HUD moneu comes with conditions. These conditions are counter productive the revitalization efforts. We will give you money to create housing in poor and blighted neighborhoods, but the money has to be used for low income housing only. So, we keep the area poor. I am not making this stuff up.
There's a certain amount of years where it has to remain low income, but after that expires they can do whatever they want with it.
TRY 30 years QCI.
And in 30 years they will look like a cross between the Courtland and the Schricker, and the out of town investors will take a hike, leaving Davenporter's to once again, hold the bag.
Yep - this will happen at the Cobblestone T project too because in 15 years the agency is to sell them to homeowners. The problem is that the mortgages remaining will be around $130K or so and in that area of town, some serious improvement will need to happen or the properties will be one city block of rentals. Single family rentals. That is so bad for that area of town. What a racket these tax credit projects are. Outside investors making millions from tax payers (private investors) and there is no consideration for the future or the neighborhoods involved. Literally, these investors are making money on poverty. The projects that are mixed income are better in one aspect for revitalization and the ones for the extreme poor are better in a way for the poor people. But, either way these projects are naturally viewed as low income housing and this the materials are cheaper then usual. Cheap stuff does not last, and cheap stuff really doesn't last in the hands of many tenants over the years. What I a getting at is that the neighborhoods suffer utlimately because these properties will not be decent in 15 to 30years. AARGH!
This building has lasted 95+ years already; I think it'll be just fine in 30 more.
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