On April 1, the 25th anniversary of riverboat gambling in Iowa, up to 300 workers will be at work on the 0 million, 285,000 square foot Rhythm City Casino, set to open June 16 in Davenport, Iowa. Moving off the Mississippi River and onto a 40-acre site near Interstates 80 and 74, the property will feature a 33,800 square foot gaming floor with designated smoking and non-smoking areas, a six-story, 143-room hotel, 1,500-seat event center, spa, pool and three restaurants.
Casino General Manager Mo Hyder said, “I’m out and about in the community, and I can tell you, there is a tremendous amount of excitement. We expect this will open to huge fanfare. This is a big thing for our community.” The new casino will employ 600-650 people, versus the 250 employed now at the existing riverboat casino, Hyder said.
On a recent tour of the construction site, Kehl Development President and Chief Executive Officer Dan Kehl said, “I say the market is good. I would also say the market is flat. We’ve got so much new competition in Illinois with video machines in the bars. That’s definitely impacted the eastern Iowa market. But we’re not building this casino just for our health. I also think this project will be a great catalyst here for future development.”
Former Davenport Mayor Bill Gluba earlier predicted Rhythm City will be the most successful of the Quad Cities’ three casinos, including Isle of Capri’s coming 82,000 square foot land-based facility in Bettendorf. “This is going to be the blockbuster. Bettendorf is doing what they got to do. We’re doing what we got to do. Competition is healthy,” he said. The area’s third land-based casino is Jumer’s Casino & Hotel in Rock Island, built in 2008.
Kehl’s parents received Iowa’s first riverboat gaming license in 1990. The family also built and owns Riverside Casino and Golf Resort in 2006 and Grand Falls Casino and Golf Resort in 2011. Kehl said he became interested in a land-based casino in Davenport when officials announced plans for a city-owned facility in October 2012. However, after that project fell through, Kehl Management took over the gaming license in 2014 after paying Isle of Capri $51 million for the Rhythm City riverboat.
“If this project would have been easy, it would have been done a long time ago. It just wasn’t easy to put together. It took the right players. All the stars had to align to make it happen. It had its separate challenges. But, at the end of the day, I think it’s all going to pay off. I think we’ll be a better company because of it,” Kehl said.
He added the Riverboat Development Authority, Rhythm City’s nonprofit partner, receives about $2 million annually from the existing riverboat, and expects that amount to exceed $3 million for money distributed to area nonprofits and civic groups. Also, he said the casino’s annual revenue of $45 million will rise to at least $70 million when the new casino opens. Unlike t existing facility, the new land-based casino also will pay property taxes to the city, county and Davenport schools.
Following the opening of the new Rhythm City Casino, the owners will have 90 days to vacate the riverfront. An unidentified group of Memphis investors has purchase the riverboat, and Hyder said some “interested parties” have been inquiring about the barge, which has served all of Davenport’s riverboat casinos dating back to the President in the 1990s.
Among the parties interested in the barge are Davenport officials who have considered buying it to use as a welcome stop for Viking River Cruises. Mayor Frank Klipsch said the Norwegian company is “committed to coming to the United States, committed to the Mississippi. They’re all in for that but they do have a requirement that they want exclusive use of a dock. That doesn’t mean the main one we’d have, they just have to have an area where they could get one and off the boat when they come to town.” Klipsch added the process to gain federal approval and to build boats specially designed to navigate the Mississippi River could take more than two years.
