Plan & Zone Commission approves final plan to convert Annie Whitmire campus to housing

The Davenport City Plan & Zone Commission on July 1 approved a final development plan for the Annie Whitmire property at 2800 Eastern Avenue, clearing the way for adaptive reuse of the locally designated historic campus into multiunit housing. The commission approved the plan as amended by roll call vote, with all voting commissioners recording “yes.”

The plan matters because it preserves and repurposes a locally designated historic site while enabling new housing and supportive services on a campus bounded by Eastern Avenue, 20 Ninth Street and the railroad tracks. The commission is the final review authority for this final development plan, so the decision does not go to the City Council.

Staff member Matt, presenting the plan, said the property was locally designated as a historic district in 1996 and that the city purchased the campus in 1982. He described the approved final plan as consistent with the preliminary plan the commission approved last March and said the campus is divided into five development zones: the city will retain the aquatic center and an open-space outlot in the northwest corner, the campus centerpiece will be family housing, the west portion will be the first redevelopment phase, the south portion is labeled generically as…