West Davenport project takes shape
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By Jennifer DeWitt | Monday, July 17, 2006 |
The sweltering heat Monday turned a ceremonial groundbreaking into a dust tossing as developers threw out the first scoops of dirt to officially kick off their Washington Square apartments in northwest Davenport.
But as the guests could see, real digging on the site already had begun. In fact, after only about three weeks of construction, the bottom floor — which will house secured tenant parking — is taking shape.
“We’re having a groundbreaking even though some of the walls are up,” said Katie McNamara Sommers, who is building the $2.5 million project with her father, Dick McNamara. The project is being built by McNamara Family Property Development Co., Bettendorf. Sommers is a Realtor with REMAX River Cities, while her father is a developer.
The 24-unit complex is the first new multi-tenant residential project in years for the neighborhood near West Locust and Washington streets. However it completes a major redevelopment project there that began with a new Northwest Bank & Trust building and new retail shops by First Equity.
“It’s kind of fun to have the opportunity to develop it for the area,” she said. “We really like having the opportunity to provide an infill project here.”
Located at the corner of Washington and Pleasant streets, Washington Square will be completed in the spring of 2007.
McNamara and Sommers acquired the property from the Slavens family, which own the adjacent Northwest Bank. The one-acre site had housed the bank’s standalone drive-thru before the new branch was built in 2004. Sommers said the project is a “nice transition” between the commercial properties on West Locust Street and the single-family residences on the other side.
Each apartment unit — in what will be a gated community — will be about 1,021 square feet with two bedrooms, two baths, a fireplace, balcony and underground parking. A centralized elevator and laundry facilities will serve all the units. It also will have off-street guest parking.
The project is similar to The Retreat on Eastern Avenue, which the father-daughter team built in 2004 behind the Davenport Hy-Vee on East Kimberly Road.
“People already are calling us who lived in the area, grew up in the area, and now they’re ready to sell their house and want to move in,” Sommers said. The project also is attracting the interest of young professionals. She said the units will rent for about $900 a month.
Alderman Ray Ambrose, who represents the 4th Ward where the apartments are located, said the “neighbors are on board with the project now.” Initially, neighbors expressed concerns about the height of the building amid their single-family homes, but later met twice with developers to discuss the project.
On hand for the ground-breaking, Steve Geifman, vice president of First Equity, said the project came together thanks to a chance meeting he had with McNamara and Sommers. “We were at City Hall on a site plan … and I saw them there.” After talking about their ideas for an infill apartment building, he said “I told them I might have just the right site. They literally got up from the meeting and drove up here.”
“It was really the final piece of the project,” said Geifman, whose development company demolished its former Geifman grocery at the same intersection to build brand new retail space.
Jennifer DeWitt can be contacted at (563) 383-2318 or jdewitt@qctimes.com.
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