Discussions are occurring this week about the future of a proposal to convert empty department space at Merle Hay Mall into an arena that would be home to the Des Moines Buccaneers, according to an Urbandale city official.

Officials from the cities of Urbandale and Des Moines and from Polk County gave owners of the mall and the Buccaneers until Dec. 31 to reach a finalized agreement or risk losing a $26.5 million award from the Iowa Reinvestment District Program. Mall owners and the Buccaneers have been working on a finalized agreement for well over a year.

“To date, the interested parties involved in the Buccaneer Arena and Training Center are still in negotiations,” Curtis Brown, Urbandale’s assistant city manager, wrote in an email. He wrote that the cities and county expect to meet this week with representatives of the mall and hockey team “to determine the future of the project as currently envisioned. Our joint recommendation to the Merle Hay 28E Board will be based on the outcome of meetings with all interested parties.”

Elizabeth Holland, CEO of Merle Hay Investors, the group that owns the mall, and Michael Devlin, part of the Buccaneers ownership group, both have previously said they expect to reach an agreement that allows the proposed project to move forward.