New Gendler's to open near Augustana College

Font Size:

By Dustin Lemmon | Thursday, January 17, 2008 1:10 AM CST | () comments

Gendler’s Wine and Spirits is coming back to Rock Island with a companion bar and restaurant at the former site of the Italian Village near Augustana College.

The developers and city

officials think the new businesses at the intersection of 30th Street and 14th Avenue will be a large component in creating a campus town, drawing students and parents from the nearby campus.

Dave Requet, a partner with Ressco Group, which has reached a rebate agreement with the city to help fund the $1.8 million project, said the businesses will be called the Grotto on College Hill bar and the Black Ram on College Hill restaurant, along with Gendler’s.

Requet said they recently purchased the Gendler’s name from former owner Tom Getz, who operated the business in Moline until it closed last year.

“Gendler’s being a 90-year-old business is very much a neighborhood business,” Requet said of the wine shop, which was in Rock Island until Getz moved in 2001. “It was just very natural to bring it back to Rock Island.”

The new Gendler’s will include a cellar with three compartments, including one for beer, another for red and white wine and a third for wine club members, who can store their own selected wines, which they can ask for while dining at the restaurant, Requet explained.

“The wine shop will be unique,” Requet said, noting there will also be a small wine tasting room and bar.

Re-opening the business at the site where Requet’s parents owned and operated the Italian Village for several years was also a goal. More recently Requet’s brother re-opened the business under the original name for a short time.

Requet has been involved in several business developments locally and nationally and he and his wife, Lynda, recently sold their interests in Biaggi’s restaurants to help fund the project.

Bob Votroubek, owner of Handy True Value and president of the Hilltop Business Association, said neighboring businesses are excited about the project.

“Anytime you can bring more people to the area it’s good for the area,” he said. “Obviously that traffic tends to siphon off to other businesses.”

The new restaurant will also bring quality dining to Rock Island, which Votroubek said the city has lacked.

Requet said Gendler’s should open in the new location in March, but renovations won’t be finished until September at the earliest. The developers have until September 2009 under their agreement with the city to complete the project. The new owners will also being updating the wine shop’s Web site at gendlers.com soon.

“It’s more than just a bar or just a restaurant,” Requet added. “It’s a place where people should go to meet.”

Greg Champagne, the city’s community and economic development director, said the sales tax rebate the city is offering to help fund the project has been used before when large projects need assistance beyond Rock Island’s standard rebate program.

“We just want to make sure we’re really needed before we move forward,” he said. “I think it is an exciting project. Gendler’s was kind of a fixture in Rock Island for years and I think there is interest in bringing the business back to the city.”

Requet said as an Augustana graduate he’s interested in seeing the school do well and improving the areas surrounding the campus. He thinks the new businesses will help Augustana attract more students and Votroubek agrees.

“If you visit a college campus you don’t just visit the college you look at the surrounding area,” Votroubek said. “It should make Augustana’s recruiting job a lot easier.”

Last year one of the city’s goals was to establish a campus town theme for the hilltop, Champagne said, in order to capitalize off the presence of Augustana College’s roughly 2,500 students.

“We think there are several possibilities from a business stand point to provide services to those students,” he explained. “It’s kind of exciting to see that increased business interest and how they relate to the college and the campus.”

Kirby Winn, director of public relations for the college, said thousands of people visit the campus each year in addition to some 500 employees. He thinks the new businesses and campus town will be enticing to those visitors.

“Any investment in the commercial areas near the campus is beneficial to Augustana,” Winn said. “Having a restaurant and development near the campus that those folks will all have the opportunity to take advantage of is going to be wonderful.”

The agreement

Rock Island is supporting the redevelopment of the former Italian Village by providing a rebate of sales and food/beverage taxes generated by the development. According to the developers the project is not possible without the city’s assistance. The agreement will rebate 50 percent of the taxes collected during the first year after the project is completed and 90 percent each year for five years thereafter or until a total rebate amount of $426,000 is reached. The city plans to benefit from jobs created by the project, increased property taxes and improved appearance of the corner property.

Source: City of Rock Island

Dustin Lemmon can be contacted at (563) 383-2493 or dlemmon@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.