Rhythm City Casino ready to reopen on June 16 in Davenport

The casino's general manager, Mo Hyder, said the project featuring six-story hotel, 33,800 square feet of gaming and an events center is about 80 percent complete.

"We expect this will open to huge fanfare," he said. "This is a big thing for our community."

A crew of 200 to 300 workers are putting finishing touches on the facility, Hyder said, including putting up drywall, hanging doors, installing kitchen equipment and running wiring throughout.

Des Moines-based Baxter Construction is the main contractor for the $110 million project. Hyder said the mild winter helped to keep work moving on time.

When crews broke ground on 40 acres at the Interstates 80 and 74 interchange last June, the deadline was initially pegged for a May 2016 opening. Hyder said the May opening was a "target," but as construction proceeded officials settled on a firm June opening.

Meanwhile, April 1 is the 25th anniversary of riverboat gambling in Iowa. Once Rhythm City Casino is back up and running in its new digs, the company has 90 days to vacate the riverfront, including getting rid of its boat and service barge. The boat has been sold to an unidentified group of buyers out of Memphis.

The barge, which has served all of Davenport's gambling boats going back to The President in the 1990s, is on the market and has some "interested parties," Hyder said.

Davenport city leaders have floated discussion of buying the barge and using it to welcome Viking River Cruises some day, though only one alderman, Bill Boom of the 3rd Ward, has really championed the idea.