About the same time the Isle of Capri Casino, Inc. was telling Bettendorf officials last week it plans to move from its riverboat to a land-based facility, unconfirmed reports began circulating that the St. Louis-based gambling firm was in talks to sell out to a real estate investment trust.

While still unconfirmed, the rumors helped push the stock up more than $2 per share in the past week. The stock hit $10.71 per share today (7/7), a 52-week high, before closing at $10.12 per share.

The new Forest Grove Park land the city of Bettendorf plans to swap with a subdivision developer is twice as valuable as the property the city will receive, according to a city appraisal obtained by Bettendorf.com as part of a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

The 4.6 acres Ven Green Development is acquiring are valued at $38,500 per acre, or $177,100, according to a February 2014 appraisal by Douglas C. Nelson of Nelson Appraisals. The 3.7 acres in three parcels the city is receiving are appraised at $25,000 and $15,000 per acre, amounting in total to $89,750.

Part of the land Ven Green will gain would be used for construction of a shared access street to the park and subdivision, Spencer Hollow First Addition, reducing the size of land available for homebuilding to approximately 3.6 acres. However, even with the reduction in acreage, the developer would still gain 11 building lots.

The Isle of Capri Casinos, Inc. Tuesday (6/17) wrote down the value of its operations – including a $60-million impairment charge for its Bettendorf casino – and reported a $142-million loss for its fourth quarter ended April 27.

For its 2013-14 fiscal year ended April 27, the Isle reported a loss of $3.26 per share, or $127.7 million. That compares with a loss of $47.6 million, or a loss of $1.33 per share, in the previous fiscal year.

"Weakness in both visitation and win per visit impacted revenue from customers who spend less than $100 per visit," President and Chief Executive Officer Virginia McDowell said in the company's earnings release. "However, visitation and revenues from our top customers has remained relatively constant. In the current environment, we remain disciplined in our marketing and promotional activities."

A proposed land swap of Bettendorf's Forest Grove Park property would give a Texas-based land developer nearly five acres designated for parking and playground areas under the park master plan, and leave the city with three parcels essentially unusable for recreation purposes.

The swap also would enable the developer to add 11 additional home lots. Residential lots in Huntington Meadows subdivision, just south of Forest Grove Road and across from the park, range in price from $55,000 to $70,000.

The proposed swap was given approval by the city park board June 10, despite commissioners not knowing how much the city will end up paying for extension of the street serving the park and subdivision.

The city paid $2.92 million – nearly $32,000 an acre – for the 92-acre park property in 2010, and have spent nearly $200,000 on master plans for development of the park south of Interstate 80 and north of Forest Grove Road.

The long-anticipated move of Bettendorf's Isle of Capri Casino from its riverboat to a land-based site is moving forward with the firm seeking approval to build a 70,000 square foot casino in the courtyard between its two existing hotel towers along the city riverfront.

The move to land by the Isle would mark the end of the era of riverboat casinos in the Quad Cities. The Rhythm City casino riverboat in Davenport (now owned by competing gambling operator Dan Kehl) is slated to move from its riverfront location in downtown Davenport to a new facility at Interstate 74 and 80. The Isle had indicated it planned to move to a land-based operation, but details of where the new casino would be built had not been announced.

In its filing with the city planning and zoning commission, the Isle is asking for approval of a 70,000 square foot casino to be built in the courtyard and entrance drive area near the north and south towers of the existing Isle of Capri hotel complex.

The Iowa Finance Authority has begun an investigation into whether construction of the Bettendorf Thomas Place apartments along E. Kimberly Road complies with federal standards for access by people with disabilities.

The Bettendorf senior housing complex at 2205 E. Kimberly Road is one of nine properties cited by the National Fair Housing Allliance (NFHA) in its lawsuit filed June 5 against Ryan Companies US, Inc., James N. Bergman, of LeClaire, IA, and Thomas and Thomas Associates.

"The lawsuit alleges that since about 2005, the defendants have engaged in a pattern and/or practice of building apartments for seniors which do not have the accessible features required by the Fair Housing Act," according to NFSA's news release on the court filing. "The defendants' apartments had many problems including: insufficient space to access sinks in kitchens and bathrooms; showers stalls that are too small to allow access; steep slopes on sidewalks and other routes of entrance; access aisles for accessible parking spaces which are blocked by concrete pillars," NFHA said.

The 116-unit Thomas Place senior housing was built with $29 million of Low Income Housing Tax Credits from the Iowa Finance Authority, plus $650,000 in Tax Increment Financing (TIF) incentives provided by the City of Bettendorf.

The new BP gas station being rebuilt at Middle Road and Interstate 74 doesn't want motorists to miss noticing its advertising as they zip along the heavily traveled roadway between Iowa and Illinois.

The station has asked the Bettendorf Board of Adjustment to grant four variances which would allow the station to increase the height of its on-premise sign, increase the size of the on-premise sign, permit an electronic display three times larger than allowed by city code and allow the sign 10 feet closer to the adjoining property line/interstate on-ramp.

The variance requests will be heard by the board at its Thursday (June 12) meeting.

by Todd Dorman, 24 hour Dorman
The Gazette, Cedar Rapids

June 3, 2014

If you care about water quality, soil preservation or local recreation and conservation projects, Gov. Terry Branstad sent you a clear message Friday evening.

Go jump in an impaired lake. Or maybe a river. He really doesn’t care.

Under the flimsy guise of fiscal responsibility, and with timing intended to bury his actions on the back pages, Branstad used his veto pen to slash approved funding for the Resource Enhancement and Protection, or REAP, program, and to ax bucks for several water and soil conservation programs.

CLICK HERE to continue reading 24-Hour Dorman on The Gazette web site.

A second alderman has resigned from the Bettendorf City Council in less than two months.

Alderman At-Large Lisa Brown submitted her letter of resignation May 6.

A special meeting of the council has been called for Tuesday (5/13) to accept the resignation and consider a resolution asking the Scott County Auditor to add the vacancy to the city's July 1 special election, which had already been scheduled to fill the 5th Ward alderman vacancy created by the resignation of James Stewart March 10.

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Editor's Note: The city council at its May 13 meeting added the at-large alderman vacancy to the special election scheduled July 1. Candidates have until June 6 to file petitions to place their name on ballot for the council seat.

Lee Enteprises, publisher of the Quad City Times and Muscatine Journal, posted a $1.49 million profit for the second quarter ended March 30 despite a 4 percent drop in revenues compared with the same period last year.

Lee reported Thursday (5/8) earnings of 3 cents per share, $1.49 million, for the quarter, compared with a loss of $6 million, 12 cents a share, for the same period in 2013. Operating revenues for the second quarter totaled $154.1 million, down 4 percent from the $160.6 million in quarterly revenues last year.

"Our business transformation initiatives continue to create efficiencies," Lee Chairman and CEO Mary Junck said in the company's earnings news release, "driving cash costs down almost 6 percent in the quarter and creating an increase in operating cash flow over the prior year."

An 8 percent decline in the number of full-time employees, from 4,770 at the end of March 2013 to 4,486 at the end of March this year, helped lower the company's cash costs, along with a 13 percent drop in newsprint and ink expenses.