The rendering above could be seen in the Reader a couple weeks ago, in their article about green roof construction. Here are a couple of older renderings, before a slight design change. I think the city decided that the giant glass panel was a bit much for a government building. These 2 are not the current plan, but do seem to have many similarities.
The building was designed by Neumann Monson, which should sound familiar. They've designed both parking garages, the Skybridge, and the Plaza Towers in Iowa City. So while the building may not match the 1850's,1930's, or 1950's buildings downtown, it does match the 1990's and 2000's buildings. Also, as I've said previously, when we try to "match" the old architecture we get stuck with buildings that look like the MidAmerican building instead of ever advancing into the modern age. I'm not sure what the people who feel its ugly would prefer the new police station to look like. Do they want the city to spend a fortune building a stone building to match city hall? A 1960's aluminum building to match the Courthouse? Or maybe they're just against things, and offer no solutions...
46 comments:
I thought the city dumped the 'green' roof. I like the building just not crazy about the tan color but I understand they are trying to cordinate with City Hall.
Yeah, I could do without the tan color also, but that's my only real complaint. The green roof is back in, I think due to some grant money or money from RiverAction or something like that. That and the cost-savings that it will bring in reduced heating and cooling bills.
Thanks for finding the additional images. I've only seen the one from the city web site with the large glass panel.
I actually prefer the large panel. It would tie together with the Figge and still have some elements that would reflect the design of city hall. I'm sure the architect saw it that way but budgets have a way of determining the final plans. It will be good to have the jail and PD done soon. I'm glad Davenport spent the money.
I think it's a decent looking building, but I think Moline's is even nicer. I particularly like the large public plaza in front of Moline's new pd.
I like the looks of the building but wish the station would have been more centraly located, like at the old hospital at Marquette and Kimberly Rd.
The new jail design is much better. It's too bad we didn't match it with it.
While geographically centralized, Kimberly isn't exactly the center point for crime in Davenport. Being South of Locust is a good thing, and being next to the jail and courthouse works out very well for the police also. I haven't heard lately whether the skywalk between the 2 is still happening, or if that was victim to cost cutting also.
As far as the glass panel, I liked it too, and I doubt that it added that much expense. The problem was probably how expensive it looked during the budget crunches lately. I guess we have to keep in mind that this isn't an art museum or library...
The choice of that shade of brown sucks. All those windows look labor intesive to keep them clean.
all those windows give something for the prisoners to do. Why do you think the grounds around the courthouse in RI are kept up so well?
It would have been wonderful to match the new police station with the stonework of city hall. But that isn't possible as not everyone is paying their fair share. It's buildings like QCI's, that are operating under TIF agreements that will not pay anything over a vacant/delapidated value into the taxbase. So instead of a outstanding looking building like City Hall, we have to downgrade and settle for a much cheaper looking building.
You are throwing around Neumann Monsons name as a good thing in designing the new Police Building for Davenport. Your memory must be short, as they were the ones that had the flaw in design for the parking ramp, and workers had to be pulled off the job after a huge crack developed, and they had to quickly redesign the building so it would be safe to use. Then we used them for the skybridge, and there were flaws with that project also. For some time, people were not allowed out onto the overlook area, as it wasn't safe. Not too long ago, the poor design of the HVAC caused problems, and had to be redone. It is still questionable if the design of the glass is correct. Why Dee hired this outfit to build another project makes taxpayers wonder.
2:50, explain how things would be better tax-wise if the Davenport Lofts hadn't been built? Vacant, blighted hulks don't pay any more taxes than the building currently does.
I believe the skybridge initial design didn't include the elevators making it non ADA compliant. How can an architect not know these basic codes?
YOu building doesn't pay taxes QCI - it is a rental that does not pay taxes. It has pushd crime into the neighborhoods where tax payers live and now are questioning why they stay. There is no plan to address crime moving when we develop in these areas and your owner does not contibute to any funds. AND, they are millionaires making millions on poverty housing in davenport. They should contribute.
The building doesn't pay taxes. The property owner doesn't pay property tax for a few(5?) years. The rental income, building supplies, architectural fees, home furnishings etc. are all taxed via the sales tax. That income would not exist without the initial subsidy or TIF. And the neighborhood is safer with new tennants and a cleaner, updated building site.
QCI finally came up with a good idea, that being, let the little bangers grafitti to their hearts content the new million dollar skate park. If this catches on, maybe QCI could get the little hoods to tag over the whole outside of the police building and cover up that hidious brown color. Keep them busy spraying downtown so they arn't busy spraying my garage. For the brilliant grafitti idea, I think that alderman Meyer should bestowe QCI with the coveted davenport CITY FLAG award.
The building does pay taxes.
The building pays $17,822 per year in property taxes. According to the Scott County site, they paid a half year's worth, $8,911, back in August. They pay the same amount of taxes that were paid before the renovation. When that expires, they will pay even more taxes.
Keep spreading your lies though, negative folks.
To QCI - The skywalk is still in on the PD building.
To 6:01 - The issues you bring up were proven to be committed by the contractors and were not design flaws (and the contractors paid for the repairs out of their own pockets). And people were kept off the overlook because birds were crapping on people. They put up netting and fixed it. It was never unsafe.
To 7:15 - You "believe"? But you don't know jack. There were always elevators designed in the skybridge, duh.
The ability to sound like an expert and throw out innaccurate information continues to be the biggest flaw in the blogosphere.
The truth will set you free.
Yeah, I was at the original skybridge design exhibition thing in the Gold Room at the Blackhawk, and I was pretty sure I remembered elevators being in the original concepts. I just wasn't 100% sure.
Maybe this will help you understand the tax problem QCI. Many of us have bought older homes in the central city. In my case, this house had been abandoned for over 5 years, and I bought it reasonable. At that time, it was being taxed on about $20,000. I hired some of the repairs done, and on the easier things I did them on my days off, and an hour or two every night. Now the house looks great, but my home is being taxed at over $110,000. If everyone was being treated the same, my house should be taxed at the same assessment as before I did any repairs, just like the building you live in. It was no more important to get the macaroni building up and running than it was for this house. Can you see the equity in this tax thing? What is good for you should be good for me. One more thing that I learned from Bill Lynn - that SOLO in the 5th ward is running 20 percent vacant and abandoned houses. Hopefully this helps you understand why people don't like that you are getting a tax break on your building, which in fact means that you are getting cheaper rent while the rest of us are paying full assessments.
I guess I disagree that one house is equally important as a 5 story building that occupies essentially an entire block.
I would agree with you getting 1/73rd of the property tax abatement that this 73-unit building got though.
YOu are not a neighborhood person QCI - go live NE will ya and leave us all alone here.
QCI - you are absolutely WRONG. One house in a blighted neighbrohood is more important because there is a trigger effect that happens. A good example is the area around ZION church on marquette street. There is a HAPPEN house there that was rehabbed and if you drive by now, you will see the are being renovated. I am not a fan of JLCS because I think they have grown away from thier mission and actually attract homeless people to our city, but you will see the area there actually improving aesthetically. I don't think so much economically, but at least it looks better. There are non-JLCS houses being rehabbed. The trigger effect is grand and it does occur. That is why it is important to deal with big and small if you are looking to revitalize an urban area.
Now, the concern I have is that unless we promote for profit stuff and middle income homeowners, we will be stuck.
If there are 73 lofts in the Macaroni building, they must be about the size of the bathrooms in the houses in the upper 6th ward. People that would pay $1000 a month for that need a shrink.
The police station looks great and I am expecially pleased that the green roof is back in. I hope the the city spends the extra money for street scaping to keep up the beautiful downtown concept.
Let's not forget that the TIF property QCI lives in DOES NOT pay for the city services he is constantly complaining about and trying to direct!!! Every other single home owner pays for that!!!
That is correct 10:53, and homeowners pay EXTRA taxes to pay for those who don't contribute. Also, we pay for extra equipment for the fire department to rescue the TIF Tenants off the roof. Most of us only need a step stool to be rescued in case of fire, but the macaroni building needs a $400,000 fire apparatis to get people to safety.
At first glance the new police station may look aweful, but actually it is a piece of art dipicting the downtown area. Think of each of the windows (and there are thousands) as each pane representing one homeless person who wanders downtown by day breaking into our homes, and at night, being fed and housed by John Lewis. This building is the perfect representation. So each time you drive by the new police station, think of what JLCS has done for Davenport.
This thread is a lost cause... but I'll try anyway.
Wouldn't renovating one building in a blighted neighborhood full of blighted buildings have the same trigger effect as a house? An example would be CityView being renovated due to Alexander Company fixing up the area south of it.
My apartment is over 1000 square feet, so I don't know where the criticism there is coming from. Its a huge building... but I forgot, there's no such thing as a positive comment on this thread.
The Lofts pay for their own garbage, they pay sewer fees, and they have 18 grand a year in taxes. What city services are we using that are being paid for by homeowners? Also don't forget all the income when the property tax exemption expires.
Bring it on.
YOu should go out and either get a better job, or a second job so you could afford to move out of the Shricker East. Become a homeowner, and enjoy paying the taxes and fees in Davenport.
So now are you for banning all rentals? Do I try to tell you where to live? Get over it.
Cobblestone Terrace (a tax credit project) has done nothing to renovate the neighborhood it ws placed in and it DOES NOT provide tax revenue to support the services it uses. Oh yes - it does use services. DHS is there and so it the DPD to deal with JLCS tenants (oops - I mean homeowners - sorry - I forgot about that lie).
These projects need scrutiny. They don't pay taxes, don't revitalize and don't help us. So, call a spade a spade and say it is low income housing, not economic development.
PLUS - QCI - Cityview is all privte money and a local developer who took a risk. UNlike Alexander who are out of state and has very little rick if the project doesn't work out. Our older neighborhood tax payers absorb all of the risk for these developers. Not fair.
You didn't touch on what I said though. CityView would probably not have happened WITHOUT the Davenport Lofts tax credit project. So in this particular case, a low income project may have leveraged a non-incentive project.
Cityview would have happened without the lofts, as Davenport sold them at a huge loss so that the developer could get in at a price where he could make money.
Some apartments maybe, but luxury apartments in that neighborhood? I highly doubt it. Matt McDonald even told me that the lofts played a part.
What do you mean - THAT neighborhood? YOu are now contributing to the negative 'rumors' you shun QCI.
That neighborhood is THIS neighborhood but without the Lofts. The dirt lot behind this building was a haven for prostitution, vandalism and drugs. Now its not. Now there are over a hundred new pairs of eyes, 100+ new people to call the police when they see something they don't like. Iowa Street still has its problems, but 5th and Iowa doesn't have many anymore.
I guess what is frustrating about you QCI is that you seem to just stick to your area when it comes to improvements and actually advocate for things in this city that hurt your neighbors. YOu need to be more respectful to those who have lived in that area and tried to make improvements. People who own property there and who are as much of investers as the outof town Alexander Co. Regular people who believe in the area. Alexander puched the crime into thier areas now and they need help addressing it.
QCI just doesn't understand why his building should pay taxes above what the vacant value of the property was. He forgets about the cost of services such as police calls, fire calls, medic calls by the fire department, and even this week, QCI called to have a detour sign moved down on Iowa street, which they most likely had to call in someone on double time, as the public works people quit working at 3:30. QCI's building doesn't contribute very much to the general fund, or the CIP fund, or the Bond interest fund. QCI wants all this high priced staff and employees to the city, All the new buildings and improvements to the downtown, and the longterm payoffs on past downtown projects, but fails to see where he should pay his fair share. It's up to the homeowners to take up the slack and pay taxes in place of what QCI should be paying through rent. QCI makes the point that the building he lives in with 73 people and over 100 people pay over $16,000 in taxes. They should be paying ten times that amount. When the bills come due to pay city payroll, and pay the debt for all the amenities downtown, in QCI's fantacy world, he must truely believe that Alderman Meyer can go to his back yard and pick cash off his money tree to pay the shortfall. For a better city, we must increase the tax base, and that occurs when everyone pays their fair share.
What's your solution?
No downtown progress? 1980's style stagnation because we refuse to live in the modern world of incentives?
Solution: Urban Renewal. Tear down all the vacant/crappy looking buildings, and bring a Walmart downtown. Wherever a Walmart opens, new businesses thrive. The nice thing about Walmart is, they don't ask for incentives, and the pay huge property and sales taxes, and never request TIF. With walmart developments, Alderman Meyers money tree is safe for another day.
The Old Duck Creek Plaza is a prime example of how well Urban Renewal works. For years, it was a blighted eyesore on Davenport. All the old structures were totally demolished, the site was filled and leveled, and all new buildings were erected. Before the changes, the property as bringing in minimal tax base; currently it is bringing in huge amounts to the City of Davenport so QCI can have all his amenities downtown.
Nice example, because that was heavily TIFed also.
Here's a quote from this QCTimes article on February 3, 2003.
"The deal calls for the city to freeze property valuation at the site at its current assessed value of $9.9 million, and would allow developers to receive the additional tax money from the value of new developments for 10 years after the construction ends."
Way to know what you're talking about.
You've got the facts Bass Ackwards again QCI. According to the Scott County Treasurer website, Schnucks, Marshalls, and shops are parcel #842053403, and they are paying $60,000 more in taxes because the assessment increased. The Starbucks building is parcel #842053406, and there assessment is raised also, and they are paying an additional $16,000 in taxes per year. So QCI, "Way to know what you're talking about."
Just because it appears in the QCTimes, doesn't make it the gospel.
I'm still fairly sure there was a bunch of incentives for this project. It was a big deal at the time.
Maybe I'll try emailing somebody in Bettendorf for some proof.
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