Merle Hay Mall, Des Moines Buccaneers get new deadline for hockey arena

Negotiations for the Des Moines Buccaneers hockey team to build a new arena for the team at Merle Hay Mall are headed into double overtime.

The Buccaneers and the mall missed a Dec. 31 deadline to reach an agreement on the already-delayed project in the mall space formerly occupied by a Younkers department store. That opened the door for the Iowa Economic Development Authority board to redistribute $26.5 million in state financing it approved for the project in 2021.

But on Friday, after an update from the two parties, the board informally agreed to give the mall and hockey team until June to try to hammer out a deal.

IEDA Director Debi Durham said the team and the mall had made more progress than she had thought going into Friday’s meeting, but warned against expecting future extensions.

“This is a good project but at some point, tough decisions need to be made,” Durham said.

The funding is to come from an IEDA-designated special reinvestment district at the mall, which straddles the Des Moines-Urbandale border. Endorsed by Des Moines and Polk County, it allows Urbandale to keep a share of the tax revenues that usually would go to the state and in turn use the funds to back a bond issue to help cover the project's costs.

The IEDA chose the project from among a statewide list of candidates to be awarded one of a limited number of reinvestment districts, and it could at some point consider other applicants.

Buccaneers, Merle Hay Mall officials outline leasing scheme for arena

The Buccaneers held a ceremonial groundbreaking for the arena in May 2022, but the team's owners have repeatedly put off construction, citing rising materials costs. In July 2023, the arena's designer, North Dakota-based ICON Architectural Group, sued them and the owners of the mall, alleging they had failed to pay more than $1.1 million owed for design services.

At the time, Buccaneers part-owner Scott Clemmensen said the team's ownership group, Orchard View Sports & Entertainment, was continuing to seek a suitable long-term home for the Buccaneers, who play in an aging building elsewhere in Urbandale, but that an arena at the mall wasn't the only option.

Officials from Urbandale, Des Moines and Polk County in a November letter to the Buccaneers and the mall said the state pledge should be relinquished if a lease agreement could not be reached by Dec. 31.

Addressing the IEDA board Friday, Urbandale Economic Development Director Aaron DeJong and Merle Hay CEO Liz Holland said the negotiations are at a stage where the terms of a lease for the arena space are under discussion. Holland said she hopes to have an answer on a finalized lease agreement in the next 30 days.

The original concept called for the Buccaneers to own the arena. Now, the mall would be the owner and would lease the arena to the team.

“We have pivoted some with the Bucs now being the tenants,” Holland told the board.

New challenge: how to program mall-owned arena

Holland said the Buccaneers play 30 homes games a year and “how we program that space the rest of the time is the question we are now answering.”

The arena, when not hosting hockey games, could be used for a number of other non-ice events such as basketball, volleyball, sports and cooking shows, pickleball tournaments and even concerts, expanding its 3,500-seat capacity to 4,000 with floor seating, Holland told the Des Moines Register.

She said VenuWorks, Inc., of Ames would manage the arena for Merle Hay if it is built, much the way private firm OVG360 manages the Iowa Events Center for owner Polk County in downtown Des Moines.

Adding the arena to the mall her family started as an open-air plaza 65 years ago is an important step in adapting to changing economic times, said Holland, who has sought to reinvigorate the mall with entertainment- and activity-oriented tenants such as the Flix Brewhouse cinema, the Gameday sport pub and a planned pickleball venue. The mall also has moved its Kohl's store to a new space facing Merle Hay Road, opening a potential site for a hotel near the hockey arena.

Previously: Restaurants at Merle Hay Mall food court struggle to survive as new attractions are delayed

“I’ve always sought to fight irrelevancy. Businesses come and go because of complacency and then they become irrelevant,” Holland said.

She said she remains confident that an agreement can be reached.

“I’ve always been an optimist, but I also can see reality,” she said, acknowledging that the negotiations must produce a viable agreement soon.

She also said that ambitious projects like the arena at Merle Hay “would not be possible without public support,” crediting the assistance the project has received from the state, the cities and Polk County.

Arena had many competitors for state funding

In the competition for the state funds in 2021, the arena plan edged out competitors including a proposed redevelopment of West Des Moines' Valley West Mall and a sports-centered complex in Johnston. But by 2022, the construction cost, initially estimated at $40 million, had climbed to $58.9 million as the price of building materials, including steel, increased sharply.

The Buccaneers, a United States Hockey League junior team, currently train and play in the 62-year-old Buccaneer Arena at 7201 Hickman Road, a building the Polk County Property Appraiser's Office lists as being in "below normal" condition. It suffered heavy damange in the August 2020 derecho.

Buccaneers President Nate Tuet has said the project would be transformational for Des Moines' hockey community, which has long struggled with more demand than available hours at existing rinks. As proposed, the Merle Hay Arena project would include, in addition to the main rink, three others for practice, youth and high school games.

"People love coming to Des Moines. The only drawback is they don’t love Buccaneer Arena," Teut told the Register in November. "They love playing in Buccaneer Arena, but in today’s USHL junior hockey environment... these kids want the facilities.

"The only thing that we have not been able to provide them is a state-of-the-art practice facility," Tuet said.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Merle Hay Mall, Buccaneers get more time to reach agreement on arena