With the acquisition of new property on the edge of downtown, a new Des Moines stadium for a USL Championship team and entertainment district is being pitched by the Krause Group.
The Krause Group, led by Des Moines Menace (USL League Two) owner Kyle Krause, had previously pitched a new Des Moines USL stadium as part of a $95-million development, but putting together funding for the project proved to be too high a hurdle given economic challenges in these COVID-19 times.
Another opportunity to achieve the same goals in a different location came after the city of Des Moines obtained the former Dico property, a Superfund site sitting unused for several years. The Dico property sits next to the land acquired by the Krause Group and envisioned as the development site hosting a five-story office and retail building, restaurants, a 500-space parking garage, street-level plaza and $60-million stadium. Expanding the project to the Superfund site provides a roadmap to the site’s development and opens up new sources of revenue and financing. From the Des Moines Register:
“We aim to create an activated district that spans the entire year with sporting events, concerts, street festivals and further connects downtown along the MLK Jr. Parkway corridor,” said Gerard Haberman, president of Krause Group Real Estate, in the letter, which will be received and filed by the council at its meeting Monday….
Krause Group’s proposal for the Dico site is the first since the city agreed to take ownership of the property last month. The 43-acre site — east of the east bank of the Raccoon River and just south of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway — had been tied up in legal battles for years as its owners pushed back against pollution cleanup orders.
Considered a gateway into downtown Des Moines, the site has soil contaminated with various chemicals and rusted-out, run-down metal buildings containing carcinogenic materials. It has long been the target of vandalism and squatters.
The stadium would be moved from the original Krause Group proposal and onto the Superfund site–a move the city is initially supporting. The addition of the Superfund site also potentially provides a scenic waterfront view to the USL Championship stadium.
RELATED STORIES: New Des Moines stadium delayed; Land Acquisition Moves Des Moines USL Stadium Forward; Des Moines USL Stadium Proposal Takes Step Forward; Des Moines USL Stadium Pitched as Anchor of Development; Potential Des Moines USL Championship Club Eyed for 2022 LaunchEL