DAVENPORT, Iowa — The Hilltop Campus Village board, a group of residents and business owners in Davenport along Harrison and Brady Streets, met Thursday evening to celebrate this year's achievements and plan for the future.
The neighborhood is an Iowa Main Street and National Main Street district, marking the area for revitalization.
One business on Harrison Street is The Brewed Book, a café and secondhand book store. After opening the store six and a half years ago, co-owner Tony Fuhs joined the Hilltop board.
"It’s been interesting to watch the flavor of the neighborhood change. We have no bars in the neighborhood right now, I think," Fuhs said. "And if you go back a few years, this was a bar. It was Keystone Inn for a long time, and there were as many as five bars in a single block."
Fuhs said he values the neighborhood's mix of commercial and residential buildings. He hopes it can be pushed forward with continued development.
"I would like to see continued improvement in the state of our streets and sidewalks and just, you know, the visual up here," Fuhs said. "And comfortable place to be is our motto anyways at our store, and I think the neighborhood is shooting for that."
Brian Kramer, executive director of Hilltop Campus Village, is also working to improve the area. In the past year, he and the board worked with a small business development center to consult with 22 small and minority-owned businesses. Hilltop also began remodeling its office building, which will offer affordable spaces for nonprofits and small business owners.
To continue that work, Kramer intends to put together a master plan alongside the City of Davenport, St. Ambrose University and Palmer College.
"What I hope to get with this master plan is to sync all of those agendas up and fill in the gaps, and provide some needed investment into this neighborhood," Kramer said.
Among the projects for the coming year, Kramer said the board will be advocating for the "Fountain to Fountain" plan. This would redevelop Main Street from the fountain on River Drive to Vander Veer Park. He'd also like to see more safety features in the neighborhood.
"We’ve done lighting in the past, but we really need to talk about how we can calm Brady and Harrison Streets," Kramer said. "It's a concern for not only our stakeholders, but for the residents in the neighborhood."
Over the last 15 years, more than 100 businesses have started in the neighborhood. It received accreditation as a National Main Street district this year.
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