Renew Moline President and CEO Alexandra Elias says the donation includes the building at 1701 5th Avenue and the parking lot behind it.
"We would hope to position it for re-development. So we would hold on to it, work on a vision with the city for what it could be and then offer it out for development in some fashion. We would not sell it as is though, that's not our plan."
It was built in 1956 to be a JC Penney Department store, which closed in 1972 when the store move to South Park Mall. RiverStone based about 50 employees there, from the late 1980's to 2019.
And she's hoping, thanks to its location, that the former RiverStone building will encourage other projects in downtown Moline.
"It's right on our historic 5th Avenue, and as you know we've seen some activity on the Dispatch building a little bit down the street. So we really feel like now is a great time to talk about the future of that eastern portion of 5th Avenue."
Elias says in 1989 RiverStone donated one of the oldest downtown commercial buildings to Renew, now home of Bad Boyz Pizza, making possible the re-development of the Skinner Block - it now lincludes Dead Poets Expresso, Shameless Chocoholic, bars, restaurants, and apartments.
