Downtown demand. More apartments are coming to downtown Davenport as another building will be renovated to welcome new residents. We've seen it happen more and more often over the last few years, throughout the Quad Cities. Some call this a resurgence in downtown living.
The Union Arcade building at 3rd and Brady Street will be next on the list. A local developer bought the building Friday and plans to convert the 8-story building into 60-65 market rate apartments plus some retail. Many see this re-development trend as something not slowing anytime soon.
"This is just one of a number of projects that are going to go in the next two to three years," said Alderman Bill Boom. It is home to a couple dozen retail and office space tenants now. But the future of the Union Arcade building is downtown living, something in high demand these days.
"Generally they are rented out before they're finished. So we still maintain about a 2-year waiting list for quality apartments in downtown," added Boom. He thinks it's partially because of transportation costs, convenience, and more people wanting to live in more urban settings. "I think you're seeing less people by houses and put down roots because jobs are so transient."
A couple doors down, Brady Street Pub already gets frequent business from tenants in Union Arcade. "We get a lot of business usually around happy hour things like that, after work. Right now it's good," said owner, Ryan Senneff. He thinks though, that having more apartments nearby could be an improvement and increase appeal of the downtown.
"Market rate apartment for downtown are good. It's going to bring extra people to the area and also help stimulate business and promote businesses that are down here," added Senneff.
The hope is that bringing more people in will have new businesses following close behind. "You're going to have entrepreneurs and business people that will open up," added Boom, "we haven't found the depth of this market yet."
The developer plans to invest $6-10 million in renovations. He expects to start construction in eight months to a year and tells us he hopes to help current office and retail tenants find other locations.
