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Gills will debut The Current Iowa, an art-focused hotel

Click here to view original web page at qctimes.com
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Putnam/The Current guest room sketch
Putnam/The Current guest room sketch
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Putnam - The Current Iowa
Putnam - The Current Iowa

What: The Current Iowa is a new boutique hotel being developed in the former Putnam Building in downtown Davenport.

Developer: Restoration St. Louis, a development company owned by Amrit and Amy Gill.

Project: The 78-room hotel is a $33 million investment and a key part of the company's $60 million City Square. That project occupies half of a city block stretching along 2nd Street, between Brady and Main streets. It includes the Putnam, Parker and Center buildings.

The half block was part of a larger, land-based casino proposal that the Gills had pitched to the City of Davenport.

What's in the name: The Current Iowa captures the energy and the focus the hotel will have on providing a contemporary and exciting guest experience. It also reflects the movement in the nearby majestic Mississippi River.

Related projects: The Current Iowa is a sister hotel to Hotel Blackhawk, the first downtown Davenport historic redevelopment by Restoration St. Louis. It is the sixth building renovated in downtown by the St. Louis developers. In addition to the Blackhawk, they restored The Renwick, The Forrest Block, Market Square, and the Parker Building.

Employees: Hiring has begun for executive positions and a job fair will be in March to hire the hotel's 100-some employees.

Hailed as Davenport's first "skyscraper," the Putnam Building is on the verge of its next chapter as The Current Iowa.

The eight-story landmark, located at 2nd and Main streets, has long served as an office building for downtown Davenport. Restoration St. Louis now is transforming it into a boutique hotel.

Built in 1910, the Putnam was designed by Daniel Burnham, one of the skyscraper-pioneering "Chicago School" of architects. The developer was W.C. Putnam Estate.

It was the last building completed by Burnham, who is credited with creating the plan for Chicago's lakefront. His architect firm, Burnham and Root, was the architects of the first skyscraper in Chicago.

In urban planning circles, Burnham is known for the quote "Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized." He died in Germany in 1912.

The Putnam was intended as a first-class office building, a 1910 marketing brochure noted "The beautiful and substantial building justifies the confidence placed in the development of Davenport and the Three-Cities," according to a 2003 Quad-City Times article.

The Putnam's last major tenants were Ruhl Insurance and Butler Insurance, both of which have relocated to Class A office space in the renovated Parker Building. Together, the Putnam, Parker and Center buildings will become City Square.

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December 18, 2016
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