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Moline aldermen consider incentives for Genesis project

Moline aldermen expect to green light tax incentives to turn an old city dump into a $13 million wellness campus. Genesis Health System expects to get about $1....

Moline aldermen expect to green light tax incentives to turn an old city dump into a $13 million wellness campus.

Genesis Health System expects to get about $1.5 million in tax incentives. The TIF district would bring new economic development to 41st Street. It would help to turn a long-vacant field into medical offices.

"Projects where the development expenses without a TIF support otherwise make the project unviable," said Ken Croken, Genesis Health System.

Genesis revealed its plans in November 2011. After more than a decade of environmental clean-up, it proposed a 45,000 square foot medical office building on the site.

Moline incentives will literally get the project off the drawing board and into action.

"These are great jobs," said Ray Forsythe, Moline's planning and development director. "They have long term sustainability and provide a service to not only Moline but all of the Quad Cities."

Once aldermen give the go-ahead Tuesday evening, construction should begin in October. Genesis hopes to open the wellness center in spring 2014.

Genesis plans to build offices within the natural environment. It will recruit doctors and specialists to work there.

The center should compare with a slightly larger Larson Center on the Illini campus. This new outpatient center will focus on prevention and wellness.

"We get to take a brownfield and redevelop it into a very viable, tax contributing property," Croken said. "That's going to be a huge asset to the people of Moline and Rock Island County."

It's a future investment that will pump lots of new energy into an old field.

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