The Augustana Hilltop Community Development Corporation (CDC) and the City of Rock Island are working to enhance the Hilltop neighborhood of Rock Island by focusing on the area’s long-term development. They hope to bring new housing, businesses and gathering spaces for both students and residents.
Jerry Lack, executive director of the Augustana Hilltop CDC, said the initiative is part of a broader effort by Augustana College to strengthen the area surrounding its campus.
Augustana has made neighborhood improvements a key part of its strategic plan, focusing on improving the surrounding community.
“A major goal was to improve the community around the campus [by] helping neighborhoods and businesses grow,” Lack said. “A lot of colleges and universities are trying to develop the neighborhoods around their campuses, and Augustana is making a bold initiative to do that here.”
An important step of this process is a market study that is currently underway, analyzing both housing and retail demands and needs.
The study will help determine future development decisions and identify growth opportunities.
“We’re going to identify how many more housing units are needed and how much retail space is available…and use that to attract developers,” Lack said. “We’re trying to create a place where students and neighbors alike can gather, while also bringing in the businesses and housing the community needs.”
Miles Brainard, director of economic and community development for the city of Rock Island and a CDC board member, said the goal is to expand various types of businesses.
“What [we are] looking for is not necessarily any one type of business, but instead an ecosystem of businesses suitable to that environment,” Brainard said. “[We hope to] provide services or products to the folks who are actually living in that vicinity.”
Brainard said the CDC is facilitating development rather than building projects itself. He said that the process will be slow, regarding the extensive preparation, financing, construction, staffing and more.
Much of the CDC’s current work is focused on preparing sites and attracting potential developers.
“The stuff that the CDC is working on right now is really about trying to make the case to developers that there are sites…that are available for them to use,” Brainard said. “It’s a long process.”
Kirk Anderson, chief financial officer and vice president for finance and administration at Augustana College and acting chair of the CDC, said there have been discussions about development at the corner of 30th Street and 14th Avenue in Rock Island.
Anderson said the college’s approach to community engagement is what shaped the initiative.
“We felt that the right way to handle the connection with the community was [by] opening things up,” Anderson said. “We believe this is a strong connection point for the college and the community to come together.”
Anderson said the goal is to create a place that encourages people to stay and interact.
“We want a place for gathering, we don’t want just a place where you come in, get [something], and leave,” Anderson said. “If this ends up being successful, it does enable us to maybe add additional things.”
