Project Updates
The City of East Moline is a Welcome Difference.
Community
The City of East Moline is located on the Mississippi River. Running parallel to the Mississippi River along the entire length of East Moline’s riverfront, this 3.1 mile section of trail offers sweeping views across the Mississippi to the Iowa shoreline. It is also part of regional and national trail systems, the Great River Trail, the Mississippi River Trail, and the American Discovery Trail.
The Cassini is a large outdoor art sculpture located in The Quarter along Beacon Harbor Parkway in East Moline. The sculpture was designed by Charles O. Perry, a renowned artist who has created about 90 large outdoor sculptures that celebrate and question the laws of nature, the most prestigious by the name of Continuum, which stands in front of the national Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. The Cassini was brought to the Quad Cities by Renaissance Rock Island from the Chicago area along with other sculptures. Italo Milani, a Quad City architect, is primarily responsible for making REDEEM aware of the availability of the sculpture. The placement of the Cassini along Beacon Harbor Parkway was chosen so that residents and visitors would easily be able to see and enjoy it while driving by or biking and walking on the adjacent bike path.
Veterans Memorial Park in the downtown is an example of what the Main Street organization and the Special Service area has accomplished on providing amenities while improving the overall appearance of the downtown.
Project Updates
Downtown
The East Moline downtown has a very active MainStreet group, and they are poised to work with the City as is REDEEM on the $25.0M RAISE grant that the City received and is solidifying plans to begin construction next year. The RAISE grant will be used to unify the downtown, the Bend, the Rust Belt, and The Quarter as a cohesive interconnected district. Improvements are planned to enhance multi-modal transportation, wayfinding, streetscaping, infrastructure, and definition as a distinct destination and promote private investment and development.
Runners Park in downtown East Moline took a vacant lot and turned it into a hot spot for festivals, live music, outdoor learning and a center for downtown activities. Private investment, REDEEM, and the City of East Moline got together, and now weekly activities draw people from across our region.
The municipal library was the recipient of a former bank building that they transformed. The downtown library is more than a library and includes a community center and an outdoor children’s reading program.
Commercial/Industrial
The Tyson Food plant is located in Joslin, IL. Tyson obtains their water supply from a 13-mile water main that is supplied by the City of East Moline. This was another of REDEEM’s initial projects to bring business and jobs to East Moline and the Quad City region.
Park Vista was one of REDEEM’s first projects soon after the organization was formed. The site formerly held an old high school building that was no longer used. The community came together, raised funds and built a 200-unit senior living center.
East Moline’s location is at the crossroads of Interstate 80, Interstate 88 and Interstate 74 in Illinois. This is one of the reasons that FedEx built a 196-dock freight center near the interchanges of these interstates.
The East Moline Industrial Park is home to a number of local, regional and national businesses. REDEEM partnered with John Deere to facilitate the location of a paint and logistics center that serves the nearby John Deere Harvester Works with small painted parts that are then unloaded, stored if necessary or kitted and delivered to the factory for use.
The new Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters has built a new campus that includes a 50,000 square foot Quad City region training center for training apprentices and re-training of journeymen. The campus includes a 10,000 square foot office and the campus has area open for future developments.
MetroLINK is the Illinois Quad City regional transportation. The organization provides Metro bus service, ADA paratransit and Special Transportation Services, and seasonal passenger ferryboat service with the Channel Cat Water Taxi. The 3.5 million rides a year taken on MetroLINK services provide a vital connection to jobs, education, healthcare, and retail supporting our local economy and creating a vibrant quality of life. MetroLINK has an entire eco-friendly fleet, with 70% of buses running on compressed natural gas (CNG) and 30% running on battery electricity. The EastPointe station is located in a former brownfield site that REDEEM assisted the City in the cleanup of this site that is now home to four companies.
East Moline Glass Co. is a large regional supplier of standard and custom glass for homeowners and commercial businesses. Located in an area of East Moline originally known as Frogtown due to the swampy conditions near the Mississippi River. The site was developed in 1901 and had a number of different manufacturing enterprises and this building represents the renovation of part of this site into a modern 21st century business headquarters.
The Rust Belt
The Rust Belt is part of the original Frogtown developed in 1901. The site was converted into a multi-use campus and includes the Rust Belt music venue; Midwest Ale Works, a craft brewery that is on the Quad Cities Ale Trail; Jennie’s Boxcar a street taco and tequila bar; Rath Fitness; JW Photography; Revival Mane Hair and Spa; Iron and Grain Boutiques; Streamline Architects; Iron and Grain Coffee House; and to throw manufacturing back into the mix Production Cutting Services.
The Rust Belt is a unique space that has been a big boon to the Quad City music scene with a wide variety of music groups with nationally renowned artists performing such as Nathaniel Rateliff.
The variety of music acts and other events occurring at The Rust Belt include a contemporary R&B act performing with the Quad City Symphony Orchestra along with corporate meetings, art presentations, comedy acts and shows.
Jennie’s Boxcar, a street taco and tequila bar and Midwest Ale Works, a craft brewery on the Quad Cities Ale Trail are popular stops during the day and have special events and are located next to the Rust Belt music venue.
The Bend
The Bend is the largest project that REDEEM has been associated with. The site is a former 155-acre Case New Holland/International Harvester manufacturing site. This brownfield site is now being developed as a multi-use development that is turning into a community within a community. It currently includes hotels, apartments, event centers, restaurants, retail strip and more to come.
The Bend XPO is a large customizable space of 100,000 square feet located on The Bend campus. The XPO is a home to national conferences, training seminars, galas, and company meetings and parties that can accommodate 50 to 5,000 people.
The Bend Event Center Center on The Bend campus is a state-of-the-art event venue home to two venues The Bend Event Center and The Combine restaurant. Located across from River Bend Park, and adjacent to the Hyatt Place and Hyatt House hotels and The Bend XPO.
The Hyatt Place Hotel consists of 134 overnight stay rooms and the Hyatt House hotel consists of extended stay rooms with every room having a view of the Mississippi River. The River Room located on the 9th floor provides a broad panoramic view where the Mississippi River bends and is the only place along the river where it travels from east to west.
The Quarter
“The Rapids” is located along the Great River Trail Bike Path in The Quarter on the Mississippi riverfront. Ted McElhiney is an artist and sculptor who is well known in our region. Ted’s “Rapids” was created for The Quarter and is located along what was one of the most treacherous sections of the river. In 1837 a young West Point graduate was sent to survey the Rock Island Rapids to determine how the river could be tamed for safe passage of people and commerce. A mural of the survey performed by Lieutenant Robert E. Lee is located in the Hyatt Hotels just downstream from this sculpture.
Residential development in The Quarter is currently underway and when completed there will be sixty-five new condominium residences enjoying life right on the Mississippi River front.
