"They're coming. It just takes time."
That's the word from Ray Forsythe, Director of Planning and Development for Moline, who appeared live on WQAD News 8's Good Morning Quad Cities on Thursday, December 14th.
"Portillo’s is coming to the Quad Cities at some point, whether it’s in Davenport or Moline," he said. "We’re hoping for Moline since the CEO is from Moline. We’re going to work really hard to get them here, but maybe they’ll open two [locations]."
Forsythe said the city is working with Portillo's and their real estate people have been here. However, he said it's all part of a bigger process:
"When those chains build a restaurant, they have delivery trucks," he explained. "They don’t want to come to just one location, so they’re going to Peoria. We think they’ll probably get to Iowa City. They’re going to Madison. They’re building their way out here. They’ll get here eventually."
In the meantime, there are a lot of projects happening in Moline in 2018. Click here to see what those are and to get a sneak peek of The Q and Element Hotel opening in January 2018.
