Polk County to consider $10 million more for soccer stadium project
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Polk County Supervisors will on Tuesday consider more than doubling the county's contribution to a proposed downtown soccer stadium development from $7 to $17 million.
Why it matters: If approved, the vote would commit future county resources just weeks before an election when two of the five sitting supervisors will be replaced.
- The proposal's timing — added to the agenda on Monday — is sudden and would essentially block the input of taxpayers or their future representatives, Supervisor Matt McCoy tells Axios.
Catch up quick: Metro businessman Kyle Krause announced a campaign in 2019 to build what was then a $60 million stadium and home for a soccer club in the USL Championship, a second-tier league.
- The 6,300-seat stadium, at the Dico Superfund site near 15th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, was initially projected to open in 2022, but the pandemic contributed to a series of delays and increased costs.
Driving the news: The stadium, now projected to cost around $95 million, was officially awarded $23 million last week in state funds.
- Project organizers and the county are trying to meet state deadlines to close a nearly $20 million financing gap, the Register reports.
Yes, but: Polk's potential extra contribution has already been projected in the final application to state officials and will not change the financing gap, Dan Jansen, the program manager for Iowa Soccer Development Foundation — the nonprofit that would own the stadium — tells Axios.
State of play: The stadium's financing is entwined with roughly a half-billion dollars in other downtown projects planned by the Krause Group, including hotel, housing and retail developments.
- Polk County's increased allocation would help spur what county administrator John Norris described in a memo to supervisors as "the biggest public/private economic impact project in the history of downtown."
Inside the room: If supervisors approve the resolution for extra money it will be by a slim margin because McCoy and Supervisor Tom Hockensmith, both Democrats, tell Axios they will vote against Tuesday's proposal.
- Supervisors Angela Connolly and Robert Brownell tell Axios they will probably vote yes. Steve Van Oort did not return our requests for comment Monday.
Context: Brownell and Van Oort's seats, the board's only Republicans, are up for election next month but neither is on the ballot.
Meanwhile, the soccer foundation is still working with DSM on a development agreement for the site but is not anticipating additional cash contributions from the city, Jansen said.
- DSM has pledged $1.5 million for construction of the project's plaza in addition to $18 million in investments for site cleanup and street construction, Carrie Kruse, the city's economic development administrator, tells Axios.
What's next: Tuesday's supervisor's meeting starts at 9:30am.