Breaking ground for a new downtown Rock Island and the Davenport Junior Theater being uprooted in the city's the Dempster Junior Theater has been in the Annie Whitmire complex for years.

But that will change in the coming year, and we'll talk about that in a moment.

But first, a whole new look for the heart of Rock Island.

The city broke ground on a multimillion dollar plan to freshen up the downtown area and give it a new look and feel.

And by the end of next year, you'll see features the city hopes will re welcome you to the heart of Rock Island.

We talked with Rock Island Downtown Alliance executive director Jack Cullen, who is part of the team that's trying to bring more vibrancy to the city center.

So the groundbreaking has started on almost $9 million project.

This is not any small investment.

This could be very transformative.

Yeah, the $9 million Rebuild Downtown project is the single largest investment in downtown's public infrastructure in a generation.

So no small feat that we have broke ground in this project.

And this didn't just come about yesterday.

I mean, you've done surveys, you've done studies.

You know, you saw funding for it.

How much work went into the announcement and the groundbreaking?

Well, what's exciting about this is that there are a lot of pieces in the rebuild downtown project that date back to the city's 2015 Downtown Revitalization Plan.

So ideas and concepts that were provided by public input, as well as a consultant dating back to that 2015 year.

But we've really been hard at work over the past three years.

I would say daily raising funds, fine tuning the concepts and plans to where we are today of breaking, breaking ground and kicking off the construction.

You know that there's been downtown revitalization projects since the 1970s when malls were created and downtown started to decay and it was like, make it more pedestrian friendly, put in more trees.

And then it started eliminating parking and all that.

And it was just basically putting lipstick on a pig.

How is this different?

I mean, how, how, how are you trying to make not only brick and mortar, but almost a transformation of the way people think about downtown?

Yes, it really is about the creating a new sense of place for people.

But I got to say, I love the love.

Your knowledge of the history of downtown and urban development.

Creation of pedestrian malls across the country.

We saw in the 1970s to really combat the suburban, you know, the rise of suburban shopping malls and bringing people back into the downtowns across the country.

Rock Island is no different.

That pedestrian mall, 1800 block and 7100 blocks of Second Avenue was built in the seventies to try to bring that traffic back downtown.

Now we have just one existing block of the pedestrian mall that is being converted as part of this this project and the concept there is really exciting.

It is not turning it back just into a normal street, but it is creating a shared or festival type of street.

So 20 to 25 foot wide sidewalks, no curb line areas for outdoor dining, the beautiful streetscape of decorative lighting, landscaping, trees, all of that, but making it easy to close off for events.

Going back to the heyday of downtown Rock Island when it was very well known for events and festivities.

We're creating the street in such a way that really lends itself to that, where it is just not becoming a normal two way street with curbs, but giving us the flexibility to program it in the future as well.

Well, you were saying that I mean, downtown Rock Island has all of the ingredients.

I mean, you have the businesses that are located.

You have the government buildings that are located there, and you've got the offices that are there as well.

And the other thing that you have and that we're seeing in communities all over the place is the want of younger people to live in a downtown area.

Yes.

And so that it seems like almost this transformation is good timing for this city.

I mean, post-pandemic, this is kind of what people want in this generation.

Yes, I mean, it is it is very much a commercial neighborhood.

And downtown Rock Island was ahead of its time in terms of mixed use buildings going up and commercial spaces, retail spaces on the bottom floor, residential opportunities for residential living on the upper floors of these old historic buildings.

And we have a lot of that in our downtown.

And I think that between what programs the city has in place, as well as just the appetite from the community, we need to see more of that.

As you said, we've got great mix of businesses downtown, great mix of employers and amenities.

We need to support those that we do have, but continue to add on to those commercial retail spaces in our downtown as well as the residential.

We're at capacity for both market rate and non-market rate housing in our downtown.

And so that's another priority that the city has for the downtown.

And you're not turning your back on some elements of downtown Rock Island because some 25, 30 years ago, Arts Alley was was which is right next to Quantity Arts, of course.

And it's just a small space, but it was kind of like a linchpin to what was then called the district.

And you still want to revitalize that and you still want to make that a focal point.

Yes.

The arts, entertainment, we have I mean, we have venues in our downtown businesses that are arts and entertainment oriented or themed.

It's not something that the city is is trying to walk away from or or disregard.

You know, I think the the future goal for downtown Rock Island has become more family friendly, have amenities and assets for all to enjoy, not just a single sector.

And so that I think that is really the goal.

And what's exciting about this close to $9 million project is it is not just general streetscape being right.

It's not just all underground work, sewer water mains, as.

Important as that is very.

Important.

And it's not just, you know, new trees and new lighting.

We have some really exciting placemaking elements as well, trying to enhance that sense of place in the downtown, starting with Arts Alley.

I mean, we're putting up some really exciting large scale murals in that space trying to really bring that space to the most it can be.

It was created as kind of a gateway between the riverfront and the downtown business district, creating that arts alley.

But we really want to turn it into this kind of living, breathing, urban outdoor art gallery that we can program and kind of change throughout the year.

And you are looking for artists, are you not?

So we are now at the point of we have finalists that are submitting designs and will will be inviting the public to help us choose what designs we think are right for Arts Alley.

So we've got two large walls that that murals will be going up at and have some opportunities here this spring for the public to to engage there.

There has been a lot of naming of of this area as downtown rock Island when so many people know of it as the district.

Is that moniker gone?

Is is that like a part of the history that perhaps it has a connotation that you want to move or grow from?

I think it depends on who you ask.

You know, some may view it as a as the heyday for for downtown Rock Island going to the district.

Some folks may have great memories.

Their casino boat was there.

Yes, you may have my weekend.

All those events that were there.

Exactly.

Others may feel that the name it doesn't hold that brand equity anymore.

It doesn't it doesn't seem relevant.

So I think it depends on who you ask.

And the full title was the Arts and Entertainment District of Downtown Rock Island.

And so right now, I mean, currently the city is it refers to downtown is downtown Rock Island.

You'll see signage, call it that.

You'll also see signage, call it the district.

So it's something that we need to address in the coming years.

But I think it's, again, going back to that family friendly brand, we want something that that really is welcoming to everyone and we want that name or that branding to go along with that.

As we said, groundbreaking is ongoing right now.

There's there's work going on right now.

A completion date is perhaps somewhere late in 2025.

Arts Alley being the last of the three phases.

Lot of construction that's going to be going on.

A lot of disruption.

Yes.

You want to make sure that businesses are still, you know, patronized.

Yes.

Percent.

And so the goal is to complete construction at the end of this year, including actually Arts Alley.

So end of 2024 with some finishing touches in the early summer of 2025.

All right.

So the bulk of it, we hope to be completed by the end of 2024.

But yes, very aggressive.

Isn't that?

It is.

But that is what the the the construction company that we're working with, Rock Island, Bass Valley Construction believes is is doable.

Obviously, it's you know, weather dependent.

But we're all really working hard to try and stick to that timeline, but also to ensure that the community knows businesses will remain, remain open throughout the entirety of the construction project that includes accessible paths for customers, residents, employees, visitors to the downtown.

But we really hope that the Quad Cities gets excited about rebuild downtown Rock Island and rallies around the businesses that have been longtime institutions in the downtown.

In this construction area, Quad City, Coffee and Pancake House, circa 21, The Speakeasy el patron so to ties, street food, huckleberries, pizza icons, martini.

I mean, those are just some of the hospitality based businesses that are in this area that we hope people can get excited about.

Hey, look at what Rock Island is doing.

I want to do my part to help these businesses survive and thrive during this time.

Was it almost inevitable that Rock Island had to do something?

Because with the replacement of the 74 bridge, there's been so much focus about downtown Moline.

All the opportunities are there.

Also on the Bettendorf side, we've seen tremendous growth in East Moline, and now they're trying to create a three phase effort to tie the downtown with the Rust Belt and yes, that area.

And then Davenport has always been, you know, after what was the late nineties when they had their rejuvenation, it was almost like this is Rock Island's turn.

It is.

And it's really exciting to see all that urban development happening in our downtown, you know, in the metro cases.

And, you know, each of our cities has kind of its own unique vibe and character, which we've talked about before.

But yeah, no, I mean, aging infrastructure, some of the underground infrastructure that we're replacing downtown is, you know, 50 to 100 plus years old.

So, I mean, from that standpoint, yeah, it's time.

And we hope that this initial injection of close to 9 million, although it's not, again, just not just streetscape, it has a lot of these exciting placemaking elements to, you know, outdoor art, the mixed use green spaces, outdoor patios.

We hope that it's the start and that as we continue to generate more funds, that we can take this design and take it block by block throughout other parts of the downtown.

So there's this isn't the end all, be all, but this is the beginning of the rebuild downtown revitalization efforts.

That was what I was going to ask you, is that what do you envision for this particular area?

Because I always think of those, you know, gumbo.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And you make it my weekend.

You know, it was a summer fest a thousand years ago was it was down there as well.

I mean, are you seeing it still as a festival area?

I think with this with the creation of this festival Street and Arts Alley, a green space that it will be mixed use adjacent to this festival street.

We're turning a parking lot into this kind of mixed use.

Green space is the one.

Right next to Blue Cat.

Yep, exactly.

For, you know, for yard games or pop up performances.

So our next role will be programing these new and updated shared spaces for the community.

We're not going to just create these and just let them sit, right?

So that will be on us to come up with creative ways to work with work with the community, to to program them in ways that the community wants to see them, see them be.

But a vision that I like to give for this project is, you know, say you're in line, you're going to brunch and you want to go to the coffee and pancake house, You're going down there on a Saturday morning, you're going to wait 45 minutes to get a spot at the table.

So is popular.

So what do you do?

Well, you walk around, we have a farmer's market, so we have a farmer's market on the festival street.

You go there, check out some vendors, maybe one of the outdoor patios, get a coffee, get a pastry.

There's some yard games in that green space.

You go check out some new art in Arts Alley, maybe go over the riverfront.

So we want to create opportunities in public spaces in our downtown that attract people to the downtown and then support our businesses.

So it's not just activities that are happening at night and not just one weekend a year.

We want to we want to create opportunities for people to come again and again, you know, throughout the year for different reasons.

And as you've been immersed with the Chamber of Commerce Quad Cities Chamber, you know that quality of life is one of the biggest attractions for incoming employees.

And this plays into that is that younger people and new employees really worry about the lifestyle that they're getting into.

Yes.

Which, you know, again, going back to the residential piece of this, you know, we hope to see more people moving downtown, more apartments for folks to live in downtown.

But it is about that.

It's about attracting visitors to our downtown and hopefully converting them into residents for the Quad Cities and retaining talent, you know, for employers here.

But that is very much a big piece of police management and placemaking, which is what the Rock Island Downtown Alliance, in partnership with the city and the Quad Cities chamber is focused on for for downtown Rock Island.

Our thanks to Rock Island Downtown Alliance executive director Jack Cullen.

Still ahead, Davenport's Junior Theater preparing for a big move.

But first, musician Murray Lee is best known for his part in four bands that have hit the stages around the city's rude punch.

Heads in Motion.

Logan Springer and the Wonderfully wild and Murray Lee in the Sons of Eighties.

Well, we invited him to take the stage of the Black Box theater in Moline by himself to perform one of his originals.

So here's Murray Lee.

With little victories.

At the jaw.

Nor have I won either.

But I've just made a perfect campus coffee.

Sometimes a all about does little big teaser.

You my bill.

My bank account is up and down, but I think I just made someone.

Sometimes it's all about medals.

At one point.

Yeah, winning big show would be nice the way nobody will put you out on thin ice.

At least I'm not six feet away.

Ground.

Sometimes it's all about being yourself.

How?

Now I've got Chez Joe, and it pays like a little birdie, like.

I still cram that perfect ham.

This county.

It's still all about those little big doing.

it's still all about those little victory.

Murray Lee with little victories.

The dam for Junior is the second oldest children's theater in the United States.

It started in 1951.

Found its home in the Annie Whitmire complex in 1976, ultimately turning the chapel there into a nice Wonder theater.

But now it's leaving the home.

It's built for temporary quarters in North Park Mall.

The Junior Theater's performing arts supervisor, Daniel Sheridan, and its artistic director, Ashley Becker, joined us to talk about the move and what's happening this summer for your kids.

So, Daniel, what is happening right now?

I mean, you're going to be on the move in 12 months.

Yeah.

I mean, we have about 12 months from now, we'll begin to draw down at the Annie Whitmire campus.

So, you know, we've got our eyes set on an interim location at Yonkers over at at North Park Mall.

And so you know, the big trick is going to be continuing to program through April and May and then jump right in to June at our interim space and not not lose a season of programing next year.

That's right.

Next year in 2025.

So so I mean, there's a lot to do between now and then.

But you know, we're feeling optimistic.

And everybody who's kind of pledged their support along the way has stayed committed to that.

And, you know, hopefully that continues to be the trend.

Being at any WITTMEYER complex.

I mean, that has been traditionally your home since the seventies.

I mean, it's been there.

Yeah.

And you have used it to its extreme.

Yeah.

Are you seeing this as a new opportunity to grow?

No, I would say yes.

I mean, honestly, I think it's it's one of one of the older people for Davenport mentioned in one of the meetings, he said, I think we can all agree that if we are thinking about a place for a strongly growing arts organization like Junior Theater, you wouldn't put it in an 1880s, dilapidated Civil War orphanage that has poor ADA access and bad parking.

Absolutely.

But that's our home.

And, you know, it feels great.

It feels great to us.

We've made it work.

You sold it, so.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No.

Yeah, but I.

But I mean, that is a good point.

So, I mean, it does.

It does give us a chance to start to think, you know, what does this program look like if it rather than in 13 buildings.

What if we're under one roof.

You know, what does it look like to be accessible and have better parking and, you know, it changes our program model on delivery a little bit, but it's kind of fun to shake it up and rethink what you do.

Well.

We were talking also early, actually, I'll get you in the conversation.

I apologize.

It was also that, you know, what an incredible use for an old mall space.

Sure.

I mean, you're going to have families.

You have young kids.

You're going to have artists of all types showing up.

I mean, it's kind of a neat use of the old department store.

Yeah.

I mean, there is, you know, a lot of big box stores right now are are sitting vacant across the country.

And I think where we're located now in the Andy Whitmire campus, families come and they hang out for 45 minutes or an hour with not much to do while their kids are in class.

And I mean, if you're right there at the mall, chance to grab dinner, go buy those pair of jeans you needed to get, you know, do a little shopping.

And I think that'll be a good match.

But, you know, at the same time, you know, the proposal to use Yonkers involves only having the north entrance available to us, which really gives us a nice, secure location, because one of the challenges right now, of course, is we have 26 points of entry and 13 buildings that will be nice to have one and then able to connect with all our families better.

Ashley, you're artistic director, so I mean, there's an awful lot going on before this move does occur.

Tell me a little bit about some of the highlights that you have that are going on right now that that kids can get involved in.

Sure.

So we are about to present signs that he said to see.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Tell me about this program.

I mean y y stage this.

Is that has that to see is a really imaginative story.

I wanted to pick something that would be a little bit challenging for older kids.

It's more movement based.

It has some puppets involved, some shadow work.

It's a really great ensemble piece and I think it'll be really like something fun and different for the community to come to.

The director of it, Cynthia is actually an alum of Junior Theater.

She grew up doing junior theater with Daniel and her kids come to the theater now as well, so it's really fun to keep that sense of community.

I know it may sound odd when you said, there's puppetry involved, but that is one of the classes that is taught.

And so getting that in there gets some of these kids to participate in it in front of an audience.

Absolutely.

It's a really unique way to do it.

And we also have our crew is heavily involved in this show as well, even having some on stage moments.

So that's fun, too, because Backstage Crew is also kids.

And up in our booth, our stage manager calling the show, running the light board and sound board are all kids, so we get them involved in lots of different ways.

You're excited about the production, Of course, but I mean, you're you're part of a you're part of a group that's been around for almost 75 years.

I mean, this children's theater is such a linchpin to part of the arts community in the Quad Cities.

Do you see it that way?

Do you see a certain excitement and and do you wish more kids got involved?

Yeah, I definitely see it as a linchpin.

You know, there's so many statistics that say people who participate in theater as adults are because they were exposed to theater, you know, below third grade.

So 0289.

And that is really becomes your arts community and for being the size and location that we are to have so many different community theaters and arts opportunities here I think really has to be attributed to the work that Junior Theater has been doing over these last 70 years, really building the rich arts community that the Quad Cities has.

So we feel I always tell the kids when they come in like you're a part of this rich heritage and the history and you have a responsibility to continue that for the future.

That's a great thing to say.

And Daniel, I mean, this is the time of the year where parents are trying to figure out what to do with kids in the summer.

So.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So that's my that's my Segway, of course, are the summer camps that are going on.

How quickly do those fill up?

They're usually filled up by at least mid-May.

Sometimes they have some spots available late May, but we do five camps throughout the summer and then we do theater and dance classes in the evening.

And then sometimes the main stage company will do a special project here and there, and we do outreach at public events.

And so summer's busy, but there's there's definitely a lot of opportunity for kids to get involved and, you know, we serve kids ages 3 to 18.

You know, there is always something for them to get involved in.

But like Ashley said, I think the real unique niche of Junior theater is we serve all kids well, but that's 3 to 10 age ranges.

There's not a lot of places that offer the theater arts, dance.

You can find some other places, but it is one of those skills worth building communication and confidence and clarity and community.

Like you said, to also building empathy.

Yeah, yeah.

So important.

Yeah, yeah.

Especially at that age.

But it starts with the name Davenport.

Right.

But it is offered to other people.

It is, Yeah.

You know, what's interesting is this year we'll have about four.

This last year we had about 2000 enrollments and kids from over 35 cities and towns throughout the region.

Some people drive as far as 40, 45 minutes away just to come in for a class each week.

So we really feel like we're serving a broad region of kids who clearly don't have the access to the arts we're offering like they would want.

And so it's it's great to be able to be that and provide that consistently in the way that we do and.

Affordably.

And affordably.

Yeah, and that's a good point.

But the other thing is that you see the excitement in the kids, but I know, you know, and you deal with kids that are maybe introverts or a little more withdrawn and this particular age group, it is amazing.

You must see some of the transformation of kids.

You're not pushing them in front of our audience because you said there's a number of behind the scenes crew member that they're vitally important as well.

Yeah, that's I was actually just talking to my husband at this the other day because there's one student who when I first met them, she was like very quiet, like, you know, would just say a few words.

And now I was having full conversations with her, jumping up about things I knew about her family.

That's so neat to see our front of house team for the last year.

We did Finding Nemo.

They were a little bit younger and a little bit timid that first weekend and then even just the second weekend to see them blossom and having conversations with adults that they didn't know is like really magical, I think.

And is that the kind of the key point of the whole theater?

Yeah.

yeah, absolutely.

Is is how do you I mean, ultimately, at the end of the day, it's about telling the story, which is fundamentally communicating an idea.

And in the theater, no one person is more important than another.

And so even like you were mentioning, the front of house team, to even see them go from first week in the second to where they are now more comfortable saying, welcome to Junior Theater and helping with tickets and doing concessions.

And you know, we always tell them the front of house team you guys make that the food tastes good before anyone tastes, you know.

So it's it's that kind of community model that that we we execute.

What do you say to parents that might be thinking, hey, this is a great idea?

I mean it's very hard to get involved in something, but once you do, you get immersed in it.

Right?

Yeah.

Well, and and that's the thing is as long as we have positions available in our program, like enrollment slots, we obviously won't turn anybody away.

And we do even have some scholarship opportunities that parents can explore and look at on our website as well.

But ultimately, you know, I know we certainly serve that extroverted kid, but even even the kid who's maybe a little quieter, who you might have an interest or seem interested, a lot of times, you know, they're the ones who benefit the most from the kind of classes and programs we offer.

And even in the classroom, it's not like singling people out and putting them in front of a group.

It's teaching teamwork from the moment they're in there together.

And so that's that's really important is to make kids feel comfortable and confident and bring them along in their development over the years.

Our thanks to Davenport and Junior Theaters Performing arts supervisor Daniel Sheridan and its artistic director, Ashley Becker.

Now you can find out more about the summer camps by going to the theater's website at Davenport Junior Theater Board.

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Thanks for taking some time to join us as we talk about the issues opposite.