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Jumer leaves indelible impression on Q-C

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By The Times Editorial Board | Friday, September 12, 2008 |

Jim Jumer Buy this Photo

A 1989 Quad-City Times clip. Buy this Photo

Our yellowed 1989 news clippings spell out a torrid Davenport riverfront development debate little different than discussions in 2008. Should Davenport commit to a longer-term riverboat lease in the middle of its downtown riverfront?

Jim Jumer was pitching his Boat Works project, a $4.5 million investment (equivalent to $7.4 million today) with parks, docks, fountains and a brand new paddle-wheeler. The centerpiece would be the $3 million ($4.95 million today) Spirit of Davenport excursion boat. Discussion at the time suggested this savvy hotel operator was preparing to stake a riverfront claim in anticipation of riverboat gambling.

But some raised objections, claiming the proposed 25-year lease would block further riverboat development. Jumer’s representatives were grilled at their first council meeting. Ultimately, the city wound up making a deal with gambling magnate John Connelly whose President Casino deal would tie up the riverfront for much longer. Connelly’s local partnership fell apart and the President was on the brink of bankruptcy when the Davenport license was sold to the Isle of Capri.

Today, it’s an Isle of Capri boat that holds those exclusive leases on Davenport’s riverfront through 2097. Jumer’s company is completing a $150 million casino hotel complex in Rock Island.

Jumer, who died Tuesday, is laid to rest in Peoria, Ill., today at the end of a life that leaves an indelible impression on our community. His castle-like hotels set the standard for class and elegance, not by copying some formula, but by innovating an absolutely unique experience. Development formulas come and go. Jumer’s vision rose above fads and as a result, endures.

With his passing, we have to wonder: Are there still entrepreneurs with the vision, capital and stamina to create instead of copy? Jumer was one who quietly and with determination took his vision for a Davenport Boat Works and shopped it in Moline, Burlington, Clinton and elsewhere before finding a home in Rock Island. Since 1992 his Rock Island casino boat operation — the smallest here and throughout Illinois — chugged along modestly amidst a rapidly changing gambling landscape. Now his company is poised to open the Quad-City’s first, largest and most expensive land-based casino.

We join those mourning the passing of this absolutely unique entrepreneur while celebrating the impression he leaves on our community.