Roemer showing Moline how it's done

Mark Roemer has the capital, the energy, and the vision to get things done. For many years now, he's identified, purchased, and renovated older downtown buildings in Davenport, Bettendorf, Rock Island, and Moline and changed them from eye-sores to attractive buildings containing equally attractive apartments.
Roemer's skills are evidenced in his being awarded three preservation awards from the Moline Preservation Society. In addition to winning Adaptive Use of a Historic Commercial Building for the Boston Loft Apartments at 425 15th St. and Exterior Paint of a Historic Commercial Building for the Pierr Building, 419 15th St., Moline, Roemer has been named "Preservationist of the Year."

While civic development groups in Moline have gone about attempting to demolish every old building possible, Roemer is quietly showing that preserving and renovating these great old buildings can be done profitably, as he's done throughout the Quad City downtowns.

"I have always been interested in buildings," Mr. Roemer said.

He bought the Pierr Building and the Rosenstein Block Building - now known as the Boston Loft Apartments - about two and a half years ago.

He was drawn to the properties because of the vacant space above what is now Jack's Place. "It was dilapidated. It hadn't been used for 35 years, but I knew I could put in apartments up there," he said.

He created eight lofts in the building and the Pierr Building - which is the street-level home of Movers & Shakers - holds 10 apartments.

Mr. Roemer had experience renovating historic buildings. In the late '90s, he bought the Starting Line building at 217 N. Brady St., Davenport. One by one, he renovated the eight apartments.

Today, he also owns property in Bettendorf and Rock Island. In fact, his renovation of the Horseshoe Loft Apartments in Rock Island earned him a preservation award in 2002.

In January, Mr. Roemer bought the Hemmingson building on 6th Avenue, located behind Lagomarcino's in Moline. The building holds eight apartments.

Diann Moore, co-chair of the Moline Preservation Society's awards committee, said Mr. Roemer is helping to revitalize the downtown which draws people to the area.

"It is people like Mark who quietly bring about change and get things started. People are going to see the success in what he is doing and that will lead others to look to downtown Moline," she said.

Moline's economic development director Jim Bowman said Mr. Roemer has been a leader in buying and investing historic buildings in downtown Moline.

"He has been successful in converting them into model examples of how to reuse older buildings," he said.

"We are fortunate to have Mark in our community."

I would be interested to learn if Roemer has received a dime from the City for any of his projects. I've never seen anything reported about any of his projects, other than the renovation of an alley downtown which apparently abuts one of his projects.