Young, Urban, Diverse, Accepting

[Northern Traveler]

Originally Posted by Dport7476

I'm a Bettendorf liberal. We exist.

But as far as an Urban, Hip, young place The District in Rock Island is pretty much the only option.

Bettendorf has no downtown area really, Davenports downtown area has started jumping a lil bit in the last few years but not too much. And it's not exactly pedestrian friendly. If you lived in the Cresent apartments where would you walk to? Boozies?

Downtown Bettendorf has always surprised me ... you would think a city as finicky about cleanliness would at least sweep their downtown sidewalks more than once a year.

[mfrerkes]

Originally Posted by Dport7476

Davenports downtown area has started jumping a lil bit in the last few years but not too much. And it's not exactly pedestrian friendly. If you lived in the Cresent apartments where would you walk to? Boozies?

It's too bad all the loft housing on downtown Davenport's east end isn't more centrally located. If it was closer to the Freight House/River Music Experience/Figge/MWA park area, you'd have a real synergy there which would rival The District.

Downtown Moline is an area that will be pretty interesting in a few years from now. There's already a nice collection of dining/entertainment venues along River Drive, and once the KONE project is completed, I think that area will have even more vibrancy.

[QuadCityImages]

While the Crescent Warehouse District isn't in the heart of downtown Davenport, its not exactly out of walking distance. Its 4 blocks to Bucktown, Front Street Brewery, and the River Center, and 5 or 6 to about everything else. The reason it seems farther is because there's not much redevelopment that's happened between the downtown core and the warehouse district. Hopefully with the Blackhawk renovation and some surrounding spinoff developments, that will change. Also the TriCity Electric properties will be coming available for redevelopment soon, so that adds another way to tie the 2 areas together.

[mfrerkes]

Originally Posted by QuadCityImages

While the Crescent Warehouse District isn't in the heart of downtown Davenport, its not exactly out of walking distance. Its 4 blocks to Bucktown, Front Street Brewery, and the River Center, and 5 or 6 to about everything else. The reason it seems farther is because there's not much redevelopment that's happened between the downtown core and the warehouse district.

That's the problem with downtown Davenport. Everything in The District is tied together pretty seamlessly. You measure the distance between residential and commercial in downtown Rock Island by steps, instead of blocks. The new McKesson lofts will also be right in the middle of the action, and right across the street from Rock Island's "Armory Park" project.

The RiverWalk Lofts in Davenport are a located in a much better spot. Unfortunately, it is the only loft development in that part of downtown Davenport. If there was more housing situated around the Figge-Freighthouse-LeClaire Park region, the amount of pedestrian traffic could generate more street-level commercial development. Crescent is an enclave of residential with no adjacent connections to dining/cultural venues. Walking 4-6 blocks might be do-able in May or September, but that can become a treacherous journey during November-March.