Davenport, Iowa’s new $110 million Rhythm City Casino and Hotel is slated to open June 16, according to Mo Hyder, the facility’s general manager.
On Wednesday, Hyder said roughly 80 percent of the project has been completed and a crew of 200 to 300 workers are adding finishing touches to the facility, according to the Quad-City Times. The project’s main contractor is Des Moines-based Baxter Construction. The deadline was initially targeted for a May 2016 opening but as construction proceeded, a June opening was settled on by officials.
In January 2014, the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission approved the sale of the Rhythm City riverboat to Kehl Management Corporation, operating as Scott County Casino LLC, from Isle of Capri for $51 million. A year-and-a-half later, Dan Kehl, the CEO and president of Kehl Management, received approval from the commission to consolidate the ownership of the company’s three casinos in Iowa, including those in Riverside, Larchwood, and Davenport. On the same day, June 4, 2015, Kehl broke ground for the new land-based casino in Davenport located near the intersection of Interstates 80 and 74.
The resort features a six-story hotel with 106 rooms, a 33,800-square-foot gaming floor with designated nonsmoking and smoking areas, a 1,500-seat event center, three restaurants, pool, and spa. The 250 employees currently employed at the riverboat casino will be increased by approximately 300 to 350 more by the resort, according to Hyder.
Once Rhythm City is opened, the company has 90 days to vacate the riverfront. That includes doing away with its boat and service barge. An unnamed group of buyers out of Memphis have purchased the boat. Hyder said the barge is on the market and has some “interested” parties.
Pioneers in riverboat casinos, the Kehl family was the recipient of Iowa’s first gambling license in 1990.