The teetering future of a downtown soccer stadium
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The Pro Iowa Stadium project would include an events plaza that could reduce street closures. Rendering: Courtesy of Pro Iowa
The future of a $95 million professional soccer stadium proposed downtown remains uncertain after about two months of financial renegotiations with local governments.
Why it matters: The 6,300-seat stadium is part of a larger redevelopment plan of an area where steel wheel and pesticide factory buildings were left vacant for decades following the discovery of environmental hazards.
Driving the news: There's a financial gap of "somewhere less than $20 million," Kyle Krause, CEO of the Krause Group and the soccer project's key backer, tells Axios.
The other side: Polk County Supervisors Chairperson Tom Hockensmith tells Axios that he doesn't support a request to allocate any more than the $7 million his government has already approved for the project.
- City manager Scott Sanders tells us that "productive conversations" continue but also noted that DSM can't cover the project's budget gap.
Catch up fast: Krause announced a campaign four years ago to build what was then estimated as a $60 million stadium and home for a soccer club in the USL Championship, a second-tier soccer league.
- Project advocates anticipated breaking ground as early as 2020 with the team beginning play in March 2022, but the pandemic contributed to a series of delays and increased costs.
Of note: The 2019 estimate did not include $20 million in the environmental cleanup work the city will need to cover before any development takes place on the site.
- Those costs are included in recent project estimates.
State of play: The Krause Group finalized the sale of Kum & Go, their flagship company, to Maverik — Adventure's First Stop this week.
- Krause tells Axios he now plans to shift more of his attention to the soccer project, which he and his wife, Sharon, have personally pledged $23 million towards.
Details: The stadium would be owned by the nonprofit Iowa Soccer Development Foundation, of which Krause is the president. But its financing is entwined with roughly $400 million in other downtown projects planned by the Krause Group.
- If the soccer project doesn't move forward, the Krause Group will continue with its other redevelopment plans — which includes renovation of the former Gas Lamp building — but they may take longer, Krause says.
Zoom in: The Krause Group received nearly $11 million in tax incentives from the city payable over 20 years for the Krause Gateway Center (KGC) — the $151 million, six-story downtown office building constructed about five years ago.
- Incentives are paid over 20 years and require KGC maintain 275 full-time employees at the site.
- About 100 will remain at the KGC once employees are relocated in coming weeks following Tuesday's sale of Kum & Go and Solar Transport, Krause tells Axios.
The latest: Negotiations include the KGC tax incentives.
- Roughly 100 associates of the soccer team would work out of the KGC if those are successful, Krause says.
What's next: A timeline for final renegotiations hasn't been established.
- It's too early to speculate about any possible loss of tax incentives previously awarded to the KGC, DSM finance director Nick Schaul tells Axios.