Bettendorf council approves treatment center for Abbey
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Bettendorf Abbey Hotel owner Joe Lemon addresses the Bettendorf City Council during their bi-weekly meeting, hoping to change the zoning from a hotel to a high-end addictions treatment center. (John Schultz/QUAD CITY TIMES) Buy this Photo
After listening to impassioned pleas from residents on both sides of the issue, the Bettendorf City Council voted 6-1 Tuesday to allow the historic Abbey Hotel to operate as an addictions treatment center.
Ald. Keith Kauten, 1st Ward, cast the lone no vote.
The council will have to vote on the change twice more before it becomes official.
Some residents fear the Abbey’s new use will depress property values and possibly bring crime to their neighborhood. But other neighbors said Tuesday Lemon has been a top-notch hotel operator and deserves a chance to make his new venture successful.
Some expressed concern about the facility not being locked. Hotel owner Joe Lemon said clients will not be allowed to leave the facility unattended and trained staff will be there around the clock. He said the Abbey actually will know more about its clients as an addiction center than as a hotel, such as their medical information, family and where they’re from.
Lemon said the tony, 94-year-old former monastery simply wasn’t making it as a hotel. He opened the four-star property in 1992 after sinking $1 million into it. However, competition from the Isle of Capri Casino, which offers free rooms to high rollers, has crippled his business, he said.
The Isle, located just down the hill from the Abbey, opened a second hotel last summer and has a combined 514 rooms, the most rooms in one location in Iowa.
The addictions center will cater to corporate executives, doctors and lawyers, Lemon said, with most of them coming from out of state. The cost of getting sober in the posh Abbey will be about $20,000 per month, he said, adding that the center will not take court referrals.
The facility will be run by Mike Shovlain, who currently owns and operates New Life Outpatient Center, Inc. in Davenport, which in 1991 became the first private, for-profit intensive outpatient substance abuse program in Iowa.
The center will be overseen by the Iowa Department of Public Health, from which Lemon must obtain a license.
David Heitz can be contacted at (563) 383-2202 or dheitz@qctimes.com.
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