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But not all at once.
The President riverboat has found its final mooring far from the mighty Mississippi and will be based on a modest 20-acre lake alongside Interstate 70 in St. Elmo. A groundbreaking ceremony will be held Saturday, and the boat, which will be morphed into an 80-room hotel/convention center/restaurant/museum, should be open for business by the end of 2009 or early 2010.
The total cost of the project could be up to $10 million, which includes millions of dollars to transport the boat by road in maybe 30 giant pieces from its present mooring in Alton.
"We're trying to get at least one piece of it there for Saturday's ground-breaking," said President owner David Campbell, an Effingham businessman. "But most of it will come later."
He said the steel boat, which is more than 80 feet wide and 60 feet high, will be "permanently moored" at its new home, the hull bolted to a series of piers but surrounded by water. Campbell, who runs a printing company, said getting the boat caps a six-year project and is part of a dream of his to do something "totally unique."
He said he wanted a dramatic venue to use as a hotel and conference center and didn't know that venue would be a riverboat until he found the President, which was built in 1923 as a packet barge (for hauling dry goods). In 1933, it was refitted as an excursion boat and worked the Mississippi River until 1980, when it was remodeled as America's first floating casino and wound up being moored in the New Orleans area.
Registered as a National Historic Landmark, it was unused after 2000 and looking for a new owner when Campbell spotted the vessel and decided it would be perfect for his hotel project. He planned to bring it home to Effingham, but when that didn't work out, he began casting around for a new site. "We were a bit worried at first (about lack of interest)," he said. "But then we had a multitude of cities come forth."
Contenders ranged from St. Elmo to Danville, Vandalia and Newton, and a consultant was brought in to help weigh the pros and cons of each. "The feasibility study showed that St. Elmo was the perfect location," said Campbell.
"It's got a nice little lake, and you can see it from the interstate. People will be driving by and look over and say, 'Wow. How the hell did that get there?' "
Campbell sees the President as a destination hotel that will draw visitors because of its novelty value.
The boat is finding a welcoming harbor in St. Elmo, where the city council is dropping north of $1 million putting in access roads, parking and site infrastructure such as water and sewer lines.
"The President is going to be an economic boom and spur other businesses to start up," said Ken Thomason, 62, president of the St. Elmo Industrial Commission, the group that tries to scare up new business activity in the town of 1,500.
Thomason, who is also the St. Elmo police chief, said he found the boat an arresting experience as soon as he saw it. "I mean, it was built in 1923, and now it's going to be completely restored and turned into a hotel," he said. "I just thought 'Oh, my goodness, it's going to be absolutely great for our city.' "
The President's overland journey already has captured the interest of television, with the Discovery Channel now filming every aspect of the move for a special that will air in 2009.
Campbell is still looking for investors. He can be reached at 493-9056.
treid@herald-review.com|421-7977
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