$8.5M ‘Rebuild Downtown’ R.I. to start April 8

After more than two years of planning and fundraising, the city of Rock Island is planning to launch its $8.5-million Rebuild Downtown project on Monday, April 8.

According to Public Works director Mike Bartels, the hope is to finish the multi-layered reconstruction and streetscaping work by the end of this year.

At its meeting Monday, March 25, the City Council awarded the contract to Valley Construction, Inc. of Rock Island, in the original bid amount of $8,467,987.41 and authorized the City Manager to execute the contract documents and Public Works to continue to value engineer the project and execute necessary change orders to reduce construction costs to $8,223,523.89 or lower.

“It’s great to reach consensus around the improvements our community is excited about making downtown,” Rock Island Downtown Alliance executive director Jack Cullen said Wednesday.

“This is the largest investment in downtown’s public infrastructure in a generation, and it’s not the end of the story. This is just the start – where the improvements need to start in the core of downtown and where we hope to continue block by block.”

Cullen noted the main goals for the downtown project since day one are:

• Enhance public spaces

• Encourage private investment

• Improve quality of life for downtown workers, business owners, residents and visitors

An invitation to bid was advertised on Jan. 25-26 and the following contractors submitted bids: McCarthy Improvements, Langman Construction, and Valley Construction. Bidders submitted on a base bid and six alternates as follows:

• Base bid: removal of the Great River Plaza, reconstructing 2^nd Avenue between 18^th and 19^th streets as a festival street; reconstructing 18th St., 1^st to 3^rd avenues; reconstructing 3rd Ave. from 18^th to 19^th streets; replacing water mains, sanitary sewers and storm sewers under 18th St., 2nd Ave. and 3rd Ave.; ADA compliant sidewalks; pedestrian lighting: street landscaping and entryway arch.

• Alternative 1: reconstruction and reimaging of Arts Alley, at 1719 2^nd Ave.
• Alternative 2: reconstructing 3rd Ave. between 17^th and 18 streets; replacing water mains, sanitary sewers and storm sewers; sidewalks; pedestrian lighting and street landscaping,
• Alternative 3: Installing the dog park at 3rd Avenue and 21st St.
• Alternative 4: Reconstruction of the alley, between 3rd/4th Ave. and 20th/21st St.
• Alternative 5: Remove parking lot at 18th St. and 2nd Ave. and replace with green space.
• Alternative 6: Placing lights on the WHBF Tower.

Based upon the base bid costs, Valley Construction was the low bidder with a base bid amount of $7,563,699.31, which exceeds the project’s original secured funding of $7,267,181.

A summary of Valley’s bid amounts follows:
• Base Bid — $7,563,699.31
• Alternative 1 — $657,887.35
• Alternative 2 — $1,318,303.55
• Alternative 3 — $674,574.30
• Alternative 4 — $129,314.25
• Alternative 5 — $246,400.75
• Alternative 6 — $6,909,535.00
• Total (Base + Alternatives): $17,499,714.51

Preliminary value engineering was initiated between staff, the Rock Island Downtown Alliance (RIDA) and Valley to reduce costs towards the secured funding amount. The Downtown Alliance expressed their desire to accept Alternatives 1 (Arts Alley) and 5 (green space at 18^th Ave. and 2nd St.) and discard Alternatives 2, 3, 4 and 6.

Valley’s bid costs for this scope of work is $8,467,987.41. To lower costs, the following are planned to be eliminated from the project: temporary planters, pop-up stage, dumpster enclosure, in-street lights, vendor stall, postcard wall, green screen and lawn play structures.

The planned Arts Alley murals will not be part of the current project, but may happen later. Preliminary value engineering discussions have resulted in a reduction of project costs (construction and engineering) to $8,223,523.89.

The revenue sources for the project funding are:

• TIF #1 Downtown funds — $1,556,342.89
• American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) — $3,900,000
• Rebuild Downtown Grant — $3,000,000
• Illinois Tourism Grant — $267,181.00

Funding totals — $8,723,523.89

After more than six months in operation, the new Downtown Alliance Ambassadors have been circulating through the downtown Special Service Area weekdays and occasional weekends, performing hospitality and cleaning services under the direction of operations manager De’Andre Robinson.

From greeting visitors and giving directions to collecting litter and removing graffiti, ambassadors are the organization’s eyes, ears and boots on the ground, according to the RIDA website. The Downtown Alliance uses a GPS-integrated mobile software application to track its activities.

In the first six months using the system (Sept. 7, 2023-Feb. 29, 2024), the team made more than 2,300 logs. For more information on RIDA, visit its website HERE.

To learn more about the Rebuild Downtown project, including lots of visuals, see the City Council’s presentation HERE.

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