Merle Hay Mall owners are pursuing agreements with three anchor tenants for use of a multiuse arena planned on the west side of the mall.

Landing the agreements would allow the mall to move forward with plans to redevelop former department store space into a multiuse arena with one sheet of removable ice, said Elizabeth Holland, CEO of Merle Hay Investors, the group that owns the mall. Eight permanent volleyball courts would also be added, she said.

“We’ve committed to getting the agreements with the three anchor tenants done after the first of the year,” Holland said. The agreements would be filed with the Iowa Economic Development Authority, the state entity that awarded the redevelopment project $26.5 million from its Iowa Reinvestment District Program.

Originally, the proposed 3,500-seat multiuse arena was going to be the new home of the Des Moines Buccaneers hockey team. However, Holland and the Buccaneers’ ownership team were unable to reach a lease agreement. The Buccaneers withdrew from the lease negotiations in June.

Holland said she is working with a volleyball tenant, whom she declined to identify, to become a permanent tenant at the facility. The volleyball tenant would have access to the courts, she said. “Volleyball is huge and is a growing sport.”

In addition, Holland is working on a lease agreement with an unidentified hockey group. The third tenant is Dinks Pickleball, which opened in November 2023 in space previously occupied by Kohl’s department store. The facility includes 13 professional-grade courts that are open from 6 a.m. to midnight daily.

Holland said the arena project’s application for money from the state’s reinvestment district program will be amended once lease agreements are finalized and cost estimates updated. If the project receives final approval from the state, construction could begin in the spring with completion by the fall of 2026, Holland said.

In the past four years, several changes have occurred at the mall, located on the northwest corner of Merle Hay Road and Douglas Avenue. Kohl’s relocated to a new building that faces Merle Hay Road. Kids Empire, an indoor play center, opened on the west side of the mall. Dinks Pickleball opened and IH Mississippi Valley Credit Union opened a branch on an outlot along Merle Hay Road.

“We believe we have pivoted the project as circumstances have changed and as demands in the marketplace have changed,” Holland said. “We also believe that we have expanded the universe of potential users and we’ll see even more people coming here.”