MOLINE, Ill. — The City of Moline has selected a design firm to take on the ambitious Mississippi Riverfront development, according to a release from the City on Aug. 11.
MKSK, a landscape architecture and design firm headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, but with design studios in a dozen other locations, was selected from a list of 18 firms.
MKSK has worked on many other riverfront developments in the U.S., including the District Wharf Promenade in Washington, D.C., and the Scioto Mile in Columbus. Moline will be working directly with their Chicago office.
Renew Moline President and CEO Alexandra Elias will provide an update on the plan to date, along with the firm's timeline for Moline's masterplan rollout at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 15, at 6 p.m. at City Hall.
The official agreement with MKSK will be voted on at the Aug. 22 city council meeting. The firm was the pick of a panel made up of multiple city department managers, city administrator Bob Vitas, and members of the Renew Moline board.
“The caliber of firms we had proposing was extremely impressive,” Elias said. “These are world-class design firms that do projects people would recognize. It truly allowed us to pick among the best in the nation.”
Elias said MKSK stood out due to its track record of "designing projects that reflect the unique characteristics of the communities."
“We liked that their projects are geared toward the places they’re in and are not just cookie cutter,” she said. “They look at what matters to the people in the community and tailor the projects to that vision.”
Administrator Vitas said that the City is working to redevelop more than 13 acres of property, making it "critically important to get the right plan in place."
"This is our one chance to get it right, and we selected the firm we believe will do it right,” Vitas said. “This is a multi-generational project. We want this to become an active, beloved public space that is for everyone. It is ambitious and we meant for it to be ambitious.”
Plans for a new skate park and pump track under the new I-74 bridge are already underway. The future use of landmarks such as the KONE Tower, Speigel Building, and BridgePointe 485 will also need to be determined.
