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Hilltop Campus Village Reaches Major Milestone

The effort to improve an old commercial and residential neighborhood in Davenport has set a record. Private investment in the Hilltop Campus Village has surpassed 100 million dollars, in just ten years, the fastest ever in the Main Street Iowa program.

Director Scott Tunnicliff says the village joined the state program in 2009. It took just four years to reach 20 million dollars, and six years to reach 50 million, but no one thought it would double that previous investment milestone so quickly.

"You know it's really volunteers and investors stepping forward and doing everything from purchasing and improving buildings, to remodeling offices, to adding value to their own storefronts - it all accumulates."

The Hilltop Campus Village is located between Ripley and Perry streets, and extends from 5th Street in downtown Davenport, up the hill to West Lombard, including St. Ambrose University.

Private investment includes everything from replacing windows and repairing roofs, to building new apartments and historic preservation. Iowa Main Street programs in Burlington and Cedar Falls have also reached the 100 million dollar milestone.

Tunnicliff is also pleased the village has qualified again for accreditation by the National Main Street program - scoring 95 out of a possible 100 points - and earning it recognition at a national conference in the spring.

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.