MOLINE — Driven by a nearly 30 percent growth in client visits since 2021, The Project of the Quad Cities (TPQC) is relocating from just across the Iowa/Illinois line, to a new home on John Deere Road.
The new space at 4101 John Deere Rd. is the former home to John Deere Medical Group and will provide TPQC 17,000 feet compared to the 10,000 feet in its current headquarters, says marketing director Tyler Mitchell. The new space includes a list of expanded amenities that will help The Project keep up with growth from 3,600 “encounters” in the 2021 fiscal year, to 5,100 in 2022.
The full relocation will happen the first week of November, with TPQC closed for about 10 days while relocating from its current home at 1701 River Dr. Mitchell says Nov. 13 is projected to be the date when the new location is fully functional.
“The space will allow us to continue growing and, when necessary, adapt to the ever-changing nature of the work we do,” Caitlin Wells, executive director, said in a press release.
New space means more treatment rooms, meeting space, parking
The Project was originally founded in 1986 and focused mostly on education and prevention of HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections. Today, it continues to provide testing and treatment for STIs and PrEP to prevent HIV transmission, and also provides harm reduction, LGBTQ+ healthcare, behavioral health counseling, and gender-affirming care for adults, soon to expand to youth. For decades, it had small satellite offices in both Davenport and Moline.
In 2018, TPQC moved to its current location along River Drive, called the Caxton building. In 2021, TPQC opened and expanded into the River Station Building next door to Caxton.
In those three years, The Project added a mobile clinic, a pharmacy, and an on-site lab that enabled same-day diagnosis of sexually transmitted infections. Its staff also grew from 20 in 2019, to 40 people today.
At its new space, TPQC will have four on-site exam rooms compared to two now; five offices devoted to behavioral health compared to four now; and two large group meeting rooms that can hold trainings and The Project’s growing HIV support group, which has been meeting at different locations throughout the Quad Cities.
In addition to its medical work, TPQC provides education on LGBTQ+ topics and began hosting an annual Pride Party at Bass Street Landing in 2020, a recognition of LGBTQ+ Pride month. That event will continue at Bass Street Landing, Mitchell said. The Project serves not only the seven cities that are part of the Quad Cities, but also 20 counties along the Iowa/Illinois border. For more information, about The Project and its services, head to tpqc.org.
The building that will house TPQC is more than 25,0000 square feet and will feature co-tenants, too. Some listings for the property indicate a Starbucks will be built in the parking lot. Other previous tenants in the building have included the former Quad Cities Regenerative Medicine, and the Metropolitan Medical Laboratory. The John Deere Medical Group, which started in 1993 to serve only John Deere employees but expanded in 1997 to accept all insurance, consolidated all of its offices in Bettendorf in 2015. It’s not affiliated with the agricultural machinery manufacturer.
(cover photo shows current headquarters top left, future headquarters bottom left; on map, red dot is current location, and green dot is future location. Photos are courtesy of The Project of the Quad Cities)
