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Testimonials

Kathy Kresin

TDF Corporation
Kathy Kresin, Defense Programs Manager
“TDF is an information technology company, and we’ve been in business since 1989. We have been located on the Arsenal for five years, and we were the first ASPI tenant.

“The main reason we moved to the Arsenal is for the proximity to our customers. We do a lot of work with the Department of the Army, and it’s a big advantage to be located here. We used to have our offices in Moline. There were many reasons for our move, and 9/11 was a deciding factor as well. We work with a lot of information that needs to be safeguarded, and the security that we have on the Arsenal is a huge benefit. It’s an ideal place to locate a business like ours.

“The Development Group does a first-class job of refurbishing the facilities and space that we use. They work as a liaison between us and the Army to find solutions [to problems we have]. They have done a good job helping us work through some issues we had early on, such as parking and mail delivery. Until recently we couldn’t have mail delivered to the island, so someone would have to leave the base, get the mail and come back in each day. When we work with clients who are not on the Arsenal, they all have to be cleared through security ahead of time if they come to our offices, which can be a hassle. There have been occasional problems if the client isn’t a U.S. citizen, but the Development Group has helped us work through these as much as possible, too. We have had a much better experience with RIADG than in the past when we worked directly with military organizations. Things are infinitely easier for us this way.”

Joe Tedesco

Serco
Joe Tedesco, Senior Consultant Manager
“We’re a consulting and defense contracting company. We do a lot of defense contracting for the Army, and our headquarters is just outside of Washington, D.C. The Arsenal is a very logical place for us to have an office. The convenience of having the General I’m doing consulting for 100 meters away on the base is unbelievable. For the kind of business we do, this place is perfect.

“We don’t have any clients that are off the Arsenal right now at this office, so we don’t have to worry about clearing too many people through security. Obviously, this isn’t the kind of place to have your business if you want to draw in a lot of people, a lot of the public. You’re not going to have a Starbucks here, unless you think the number of people on the base is enough to sustain it.

“We’ve been here since September of 2004, and all the space we rent is office space to have people thinking, planning, that sort of thing. One thing we really like is that it’s a very low-key place to work, it’s out of the hubbub of the city life. There are also a lot of great facilities that we get to use by being here, like the gym and work-out facilities. That’s a nice thing to have.

“Things I would like to see promoted more about the Arsenal are, number one, the access to potential government customers. For a business that's looking to get government contracts, to do business with the Army, this is the place to be. The security of the place should be promoted too. The Arsenal is perfect for a company that deals with document storage and protection, because it’s surrounded by guys with guns all the time. It’s also a lot of space for the money, a lot of bang for your buck to rent here. We’ve been impressed by how big of a value it is.

“Working with the RIADG has been absolutely wonderful. Jim Morgan and Tim Frye have bent over backwards to satisfy us, right from the start. Anything I’ve asked them to do to the office they have immediately jumped to it. I asked for blinds on the windows, they were put up right away. We needed some private offices built within our space and a phone panel to handle our calls, they took care of all that. When the HVAC needed work they had people out immediately to take care of it. Anything that is within reason, obviously, they will handle right away. They have been much better to work with than landlords we had before we moved to the Arsenal.

“I would encourage any company that is looking to locate on the Arsenal to talk with some of the older tenants who have been here awhile. I have personally ‘recruited’ some business to move onto the Arsenal, just through word-of-mouth. If I knew a company that was looking for some government contracts I’d tell them what a great place this is. But it helps to talk to someone who has been here and is familiar with the best ways to set up the spaces.”

Steve Fiers

AmCad Digital Conversion
Steve Fiers, President
“My name is Steve Fiers. I’m president of AmCad Digital Conversion. We are a service company. We convert documents from one media to another, either from paper to electronic or electronic to microfilm.

“Everyone wants to make their business more efficient. We help them become more efficient by making the documents more accessible in a faster, more efficient method.

“The Quad Cities was a good place to locate our business mainly because of the Midwest values…the employment pool…the quality of workers.

“I realized that we were going to be outgrowing this space in short order and developed a relationship with the Quad City Development Group. Along the way they said, “Have you considered the Arsenal?” And it just really fit with our type of business as far as from the security aspect. (These are the original warehouses.) With the move to the Arsenal I feel that we will never ever run out of space. This is our new production area. We’ll have 50,000 sq. ft. total.”