A developer from Des Moines is taking a big risk on downtown Bettendorf by building new apartments on the site of an old motel. Demolition of the Twin Bridges Motel and Paddlewheel restaurant began this week.
WVIK's Michelle O'Neill was there on Wednesday morning when the President of Newbury Living, Frank Levy, city officials, and others pitched in to help tear down the old motel with the blue roof located on 15th Street.
Frank Levy, from Newbury Living, considers the property prime real estate. The location boasts great views of the Mississippi River, and he's thrilled with the number of eyeballs that will see the new Bridges apartments, as cars & trucks enter Iowa on the new, I-74 bridge.
Levy says the five-story building will have 132 apartments on the second through 5th floors, with a garage on the ground floor providing protection from the weather year-round. The $22 million project will include an outdoor pool, rooftop lounge with a firepit, balconies and laundry for each unit, a workout center, and community room.
Bettendorf Alderman Frank Baden has been working for years to get rid of the Twin Bridges Motel. "Our police and fire departments have to be the happiest civil service employees because they respond to more than 300 calls per year to this address."
The city's financial incentive package includes a 20-year tax increment financing deal with Newbury Living, along with a $750,000 economic development grant. About 20% of that money will help pay to bury the power lines to The Bridges Lofts. It should be ready for renters in about a year.
