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Rock Island council approves Casino West development agreement for mixed retail, travel center and dispensary
Summary
The Rock Island City Council approved a development agreement with A. Hanna Ilva, LLC for the 10‑acre Casino West site. The agreement, which passed unanimously, describes a travel center, convenience store, restaurant, car wash and a cannabis dispensary and references use of tax-increment financing and a business district to provide incentives.
The Rock Island City Council on a unanimous vote approved a development agreement with A. Hanna Ilva, LLC for the 10‑acre site immediately west of the casino known as Casino West.
City officials said the developer will build a travel center with fuel and truck services, a 5,000‑square‑foot cannabis dispensary with a future cultivation facility, a convenience store with a full kitchen/deli, a national‑brand restaurant of about 2,000 square feet, and a full‑service tunnel car wash.
The agreement, presented as the final contract subject to “minor attorney modifications,” also references city incentives including off‑site public infrastructure and support through the Parkway I‑280 Casino tax‑increment financing (TIF) and the planned Parkway I‑280 Casino business district.
Tom Flaherty, Rock Island’s economic development director, described the site as a 10‑acre parcel directly across from the casino. He summarized the planned uses and the package of incentives and said the city acquired the site at no cost from Riverstone Group and prepared it for development. “Under this agreement, the developer will construct … a travel center with gasoline and diesel pumps, air stations, separate truck entrance, truck parking, branded gasoline and diesel,” Flaherty said. He added details including a 5,000‑square‑foot dispensary and a convenience store with an attached restaurant and car wash.
Developer representative Jeff Eubanks said the project was “very exciting” and that the team had been working quickly on predevelopment. The council asked staff to summarize the project on the record so the public could follow its status; city staff responded that the agreement reflected roughly six months of work among council, staff and the developers.
Council members voted to approve the agreement and to authorize the city manager to execute the contract, subject to the listed attorney edits. The council’s roll call recorded all members present voting in favor.
The council previously considered related items to establish the Parkway I‑280 Casino TIF redevelopment plan amendments and to set a hearing date for the Parkway I‑280 Casino business district; those ordinances also passed at the meeting and will be used in part to provide the incentives described in tonight’s agreement.
Clarifying details recorded in the meeting included some numerical inconsistencies in how the developers described electric vehicle charging capacity: in one exchange the project was described as including “10 Tesla charging stations” and elsewhere as “8 to 10” charging stations. The motion and the city presentation described the fuel facilities as having 20 gasoline pumps and 20 diesel pumps. The council approved the agreement as presented on the record and did not alter those capacities in the vote.
The city manager and Flaherty said the agreement moves the Casino West site into formal development after acquisition and preparatory work. The contract requires future permitting and construction approvals and the timeline for the project’s opening was not specified during the meeting.
Votes at the meeting were recorded as unanimous. The council’s action authorizes the city manager to finalize and sign the agreement after the minor attorney changes referenced in the motion.
