DAVENPORT, Iowa — During an annual meeting on Tuesday, July 18, Downtown Davenport Partnership (DDP) looked back on the past year as it plans for the future. There was a somber undertone though, as the community recovers from the partial building collapse on May 28.
Currently, a large hole sits where the apartments at 324 Main St. once stood. News 8's Joe McCoy attended Tuesday's meeting to learn more about how the city plans to move forward from the collapse.
"I want to start out with the elephant in the room," said DDP Executive Director Kyle Carter. "The tragedy that we experienced as a community at 324 Main is something that we will remember forever."
Carter said that tragedy has struck Davenport before, referencing the flooding from 2019 as an example of the city learning from disaster.
"As always, the community has rallied when it needed to just like it has over the last five years. Over $185,000 has been raised for residents of that property and adjacent folks," Carter said.
He acknowledges the pain the building collapse has caused but knows the city must continue to grow.
"There's been an enormous amount of success," Carter said. "And while it's been very challenging the last 60 days, the last 365 days has seen an enormous amount of success, joy and progress, and the future is still bright for this community."
DDP announced that its exterior and structural improvement grant will double from 50 to 100 thousand dollars for fiscal year 2024. There were some good things highlighted at the meeting as well. There are 36 new, retained, or expanded businesses downtown, and since 2000, more than $686 million has been invested in downtown davenport.
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