EAST MOLINE - The city is taking a vacant site and turning it into a $75 million project.
The doubters are being proven wrong, "I'm really glad and vindicated when people said it's not going to happen and here we are today breaking ground," said Mayor John Thodos.
An empty field is a new chapter for East Moline.
"This is a project beyond anything we`ve seen for a very long time," said Darin Girdler, City Administrator.
On Thursday, April 20th, a groundbreaking ceremony was held to may way for 'The Bend', a $75 million project that will become three apartment complexes and two Hyatt Hotels.They'll be the first hotels built-in East Moline. The 200 acres of land will also include new restaurants and retail.
"Allowing people to take back the riverfront and enjoy it in a manner that hasn`t been done before," said Tim Knanishu, Executive Vice-President of EM Redeem.
The empty land will go from the industrial blight of a shuttered Case-New Holland plant to a modern residential and commercial center sitting along the Mississippi River.
"There was a factory here producing big red combines so its nice to see this ground is being reclaimed and put back to good use," said Mayor Thodos.
Work should begin on the first apartment complex soon and developers hope to have the hotels up and running by June 2018.