December 6, 2007 - The Board of Directors of the Quad Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) announces an efficient, yet expanded office and visitors center configuration that will benefit the entire Quad Cities region. The Quad Cities CVB will: · Establish one, new office for all professional staff at RiverStation, 1601 River Drive in downtown Moline, Illinois. The necessary buildout will occur January through April 2008, with actual occupancy expected to occur in May 2008. RiverStation is a development of the Kaizan Company, owned by a group of private investors. · Continue to fully honor the current lease for second floor office space at Union Station, 102 South Harrison Street in Davenport, Iowa, through its expiration on February 28, 2010. · Partner with the City of Davenport and the Davenport Levee Commission to improve the current visitor center on the first floor of Union Station to become a full-service visitors center. This will be accomplished as funds are available and the project able to move forward. · Partner with the City of Rock Island to manage the Centennial Bridge Visitors Center expected to open in May 2008. 
· Initiate discussion with Bettendorf, Iowa agencies to determine a system of delivery of information to visitors there. · Continue the current management and operation of the Mississippi Valley Welcome Center in LeClaire, Iowa. · Continue the current volunteer-staffed visitor center at the Quad City International Airport. 
(My parents are two of the volunteers!) The Quad Cities destination assessment conducted early in 2007 by tourism expert Bill Geist of Madison, WI, determined that a single office for the professional staff should be one of the community's highest priorities and would lead to a more efficient and effective team approach to selling and marketing the Quad Cities to more visitors. "The establishment of a single office for the staff of the Quad Cities CVB and the development of Union Station in Davenport into a premiere welcome center in the metropolitan Quad Cities is a win-win for Quad Cities residents and visitors alike," said Joe Taylor, President/CEO of the Quad Cities CVB. "A single office will build a stronger team that will allow even more productive results for economic development in the Quad Cities. The addition of visitors centers in strategic points within the metropolitan area will better serve visitors seeking information and wanting to learn about the region." "Several sites for the staff office were considered before the board accepted the proposal of the Kaizan Company as the most advantageous," Taylor said. The Quad Cities CVB joins other RiverStation tenants including Bass Street Chop House, Morgan Stanley, Allied Home Mortgage, and Baker Street. Since 1995, the Quad Cities CVB staff has been separated with eight sales and marketing staff members housed on the second floor of Union Station, Davenport, and four administrative staff members housed at the former depot in Moline. The Quad Cities CVB, in partnership with the Iowa Tourism Office and local Iowa governments, manages a primary Iowa welcome center, the Mississippi Valley Welcome Center in LeClaire, and in partnership with the Quad City International Airport manages a volunteer-based visitors center at the airport in Moline. | 
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