ACTIVE PROJECTS

MISSISSIPPI RIVER moline.ilTECHNOLOGY fCORRIDOR

PROJECT OVERVIEW

Situated along the shores of the Mississippi River, Moline’s beautiful, but now under-utilized, riverfront and adjacent industrial corridor has significant potential to be transformed into the Mississippi River Technology Corridor initiative.  This will be Moline's first step in transitioning the economy of the Quad Cities into a center for technology transfer and high-tech business development. This bold initiative, based on national models, will complement existing and future tech-led developments in the region.  The Tech Corridor is a mixture of:

By developing a partnership between the City of Moline, Renew Moline, Western Illinois University (WIU), Black Hawk College, the Illinois Quad City Growth Alliance, private businesses, local units of government, and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, the potential to transition private and institutional research and entrepreneurial efforts into Quad Cities businesses and jobs will be realized. 

The Mississippi River Technology Corridor is a dynamic development initiative that extends Moline’s current downtown.  This initiative consists of two districts, the IT Business Zone and RiverTech, and a number of smaller projects that together become the Technology Corridor.  The effort will be a mixture of real estate developments that are environmentally sound and energy efficient urban living spaces.  Education environments and commercial climates will train a technology-oriented workforce; provide transportation choices allowing multi-modal access across the Quad Cities region, supported by technology infrastructure that will allow regional businesses to capitalize on emerging technologies.

The development of the RiverTech district within the Tech Corridor will build on the establishment of the new WIU Quad Cities Riverfront Campus and the simultaneous transformation of a vacant industrial site into a technology transfer center and a variety of mixed-use developments. The redevelopment plans for this land intend not only to create jobs and businesses within modern structures, but also to provide a catalyst for redevelopment, specifically for the vacant and marginal industrial uses adjacent to the riverfront and the new campus.

The Technology Corridor is subdivided into separate private and public investments.  Throughout the redeveloped industrial district, new tech-based firms and sites will be the quintessence of modern architecture and will capitalize on the “reinvention of the regional economy.”  RiverTech and the IT Business Zone are the two districts inside of the Mississippi River Technology Corridor.

THE "BARBELL" EFFECT

The Technology Corridor vision creates a “barbell” effect: as RiverTech is characterized by new construction  that compliments and includes the WIU-QC Riverfront Campus on the east side, the opposing side is slated for a combination of redevelopment and reuse of existing structures and new construction in what has been deemed the IT Business Zone. The IT Business Zone’s anchor tenants are the existing John Deere IT Center and KONE's Service Business Center located on 19th Street.  The properties near these centers will be redeveloped and carefully coordinated to capture incoming businesses, technology infrastructure, streetscape and public improvements.  Thus, the IT Business Zone is the west end of the "barbell." 

LOCATION

IMPLEMENTATION INITIATIVE

The implementation structure for the Tech Corridor consists of two equal efforts that follow and guide the progress of the RiverTech initiative and IT Business Zone.  The achievables for each are:

RiverTech

• Develop and fund the WIU Quad Cities Riverfront Campus
• Create and fund a technolgoy tranfer center
• Develop transportation and technology infrastructure
• Facilitate the mixed-use and flex-space development
• Facilitate the funding and construction of public improvements

IT Business Zone

• Improve existing parking and expansion potential
• Recruit tech support uses for LeClaire Hotel
• Develop n ew office/tech support space
• Integrate public improvements with downtown and 5th Avenue
• Create urban housing for knowledge-based worker