Restoration St. Louis will resume renovation work on the vacant Forrest Block building in December, company officials said Tuesday after the Davenport City Council approved extending a $1.8 million bridge loan to get the project back on track.

Aldermen voted 7-3 in favor of the loan. Under the terms, the city will get 5.75 percent interest over four years. In addition,  Restoration  St. Louis will receive no city money until at least 25 percent of the project is completed.

The loan became necessary after workers discovered additional asbestos in the building at 4th and Brady streets that had not been noted by either the city-hired Stanley Consultants or  Restoration  St. Louis’ environmental abatement contractor.

 The company was going to finance its share of the $3.5 million project through Regions Bank of St. Louis, with a city grant of $500,000 and Iowa state tax credits of $475,000 making up the balance. However, after the asbestos was discovered, Regions Bank put a halt to its commitment, pending further environmental testing, said Alan Guard, the city’s finance director.

This jeopardized the entire project because under Iowa law, the building must be finished by December 2010 or the tax credits will not be awarded.

“We are pleased and grateful for (the city’s) commitment to this project and the revitalization of downtown Davenport,” said Amy Gill, one of Restoration St. Louis’ owners. “We will begin work in December as soon as we can reach the contractors and get back on their schedules.”

Alderman Gene Meeker, At Large, said he’s generally philosophically opposed to the city acting as a lender, however, he said the nature of the project, Restoration St. Louis’ reputation and an economic climate that has severely contracted credit availability made it an easy decision to support.

“It’s so difficult to get institutions to lend now and this property has been vacant for 17 years, I think the city had to step in,” he said. “The term is short, it’s a good rate, and we know they are a credible firm.”

Alderman Mike Matson, 8th Ward, said he voted no, despite being very pleased with Restoration St. Louis’ continuing work on the Blackhawk Hotel renovation.

“We have given them a lot of incentive money,” he said. “I fully support the Blackhawk, I just don’t understand the critical priority for the Forrest Block building. To me, they are two different things.”

Matson said he would have preferred the city help find a local lender willing to supply a bridge loan.

In other business Tuesday night, the council approved funding the Front Porch Parkway.

The riverfront parkway concept — more than a dozen blocks of new boulevards on River Drive with some type of planters, landscaping, improved pedestrian crossings and a new sidewalk in  front of the Freight House Entertainment Complex stretching between Marquette and Iowa streets — is budgeted at $1.4 million. It will be paid for through a 50-50 split between grant money and the city’s capital improvement budget. 

Work will begin in the spring and be completed by the end of the construction season.