Rock Island hopes to make its downtown more attractive for re-development. Monday night the city council approved hiring a consultant to apply for the downtown to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
City Manager, Randy Tweet, says being included on the National Register would make re-development projects eligible for historic tax credits - a significant incentive.
"Certainly when people have looked at our downtown, and we've had some of the same firms that have worked over in Iowa. And when they come over here, that's always one thing they ask about. It can be done on a case-by-case basis but when it's the whole downtown, you don't have to go through that process."
Rock Island will use a grant to hire McGuire Igleski and Associates from Evanston, Illinois, a specialist in National Register applications, at a cost of 11,800 dollars.
Tweet thinks an application could be ready by next June.
