Des Moines' $84 million soccer stadium project delayed
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Illustration: Rebecca Zisser/Axios
The completion of a professional soccer stadium and adjacent plaza in downtown Des Moines is being delayed a year, project organizers announced in a press release Monday morning.
- The kick-off for Iowa's first United Soccer League (USL) Championship club is now set for 2025.
Why it matters: At about $84 million, it's one of the largest ongoing projects in Des Moines.
- It's also the centerpiece of a $535 million plan to develop an area that had been vacant and blighted for decades.
Catch up fast: Kyle Krause, Kum & Go's former CEO, has been working to bring the Division II men's soccer league to Iowa for more than a decade.
- As a result, Pro Iowa and Krause+ — the real estate arm of the company— are building a 6,300-seat stadium at the Dico Superfund site near 15th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway.
- More than $50 million has been secured for the stadium project, including $23.5 million from the state and at least $5 million from local governments.
What's happening: The timeline is shifting to factor supply chain and cost challenges.
- Remediation of the Dico site and conversations with vendors are also a factor, the secretary of the Iowa Soccer Development Foundation, a nonprofit that will own the stadium, said in Monday's statement.
Zoom in: The city government's pieces linked with preparing the site are done, Pam Cooksey, an assistant city manager, told Axios in April.
- A separate levee project that goes around the west and south sides of the site will be underway this year.
- The EPA will replace a groundwater treatment system, which is dependent on grading of the site by the developer, Cooksey noted.
What they're saying: Designs are evolving but plans are well underway for construction, according to Monday's press release.
- Organizers are committed to keeping cost projections consistent with fundraising goals.
The bottom line: The project is still on but it's being complicated by some of the same factors hitting other large metro projects.