March 10, 2021 - The Davenport City Council met on Tuesday afternoon in a work session to discuss recommendations on how to use proceeds from the sale of the City-owned Heritage property. The Heritage is a 120-unit, affordable housing property located in Downtown Davenport. Proceeds from the sale are estimated to be approximately $6 million dollars. 

In September, Mayor Matson requested that Aldermen Dunn, Dickmann and Meginnis form a task force to research and present recommendations for use of the funds resulting from the sale of the Heritage. The goal of the task force was to recommend a funding plan for projects that invest in underserved neighborhoods and populations within Davenport. 

It was recommended that the Council consider a small number of big initiatives rather than spreading out funds through numerous programs, fund initiatives that would leverage additional funding through matches, grants or other public/private funding, and led to tangible and measurable results in our community. 

“The sale of the Heritage property provides a unique opportunity to the City of Davenport to invest in creative programs that will make a substantial impact in our community,” said third ward alderman Marion Meginnis. “Our task force has spent a great deal of time talking with elected officials, staff and community stakeholders to understand the needs of our community and we believe these recommendations will address those needs.”

The task force recommended to City Council the following three initiatives for funding: 

• $1 million as the City’s commitment to fund the Juvenile Assessment Center (JAC) programming
• $4.5 million for a multi-pronged approach to addressing vacant/abandoned properties and parcels within the City of Davenport 
• $500 thousand for loans or grants to small businesses, targeting older commercial corridors

The sale of the Heritage is expected to close until the summer, at which point City Council will take formal action on the recommendations presented by the task force.