The West Des Moines City Council could consider an agreement that would lead to the development of the Grand Experience, a more than $400 million multiuse development along Grand Avenue west of Interstate 35, when it meets Monday.

City staff has been in talks with developer Jim Bergman of WDM Entertainment about the project since 2022. According to staff reports, the proposed agreement was taken up by the council’s finance and administration subcommittee on Oct. 23, with the group recommending it be taken before the full council for a vote.

Ryan Moffatt, the city’s director of community and economic development, said the intention is for the agreement to be on the council’s agenda Dec. 2, although the agenda for the meeting had not been posted before the deadline for this story.

According to staff reports, the Grand Experience would be located on 110 acres of land and include a 78,000-square-foot indoor water park, a 20,000-square-foot family entertainment center, a 34,000-square-foot conference center and a 260-room hotel. It would also include 150 workforce housing units, market-rate multifamily housing and retail, office and commercial space.

If approved, construction could begin in late 2025, but it could take up to 10 years to be fully built out, staff reports state.

According to staff reports, Bergman has identified a financial gap on the project, and under the proposed agreement, the city would commit to providing a 20-year, 100% tax increment financing (TIF) rebate valued at $85.5 million. If the TIF cap amount would be reached earlier, TIF installments would end, the report states.

The proposed development also includes a provision to provide Bergman with two-sevenths of the hotel/motel sales tax collected from the water park for 20 years to further offset the financial gap. That tax would generate about $5.7 million over that time, depending on occupancy and average daily rates, the report said.

There are also public improvements planned as part of the development. They include reconstructing and widening Grand Avenue to six lanes from I-35 to 60th Street and Jordan Creek Parkway; reconstructing Booneville Road west of South 60th Street to South Jordan Creek Parkway; and select widening and traffic management improvements to South 60th Street to South Jordan Creek Parkway adjacent to the project and south of Booneville Road.
Total cost of public improvements are estimated at $25.5 million.

The agreement also calls for Bergman to donate 5.39 acres on the south side of Grand Avenue and east of the MidAmerican Energy Rec Plex for the future construction of a 500-stall parking lot.

In their report, city staff cited the long-term benefits the development could have for the city, including projections that the water park and conference center alone could draw more than 1.1 million visitors to the area each year.

“The project is large enough in scope to become the impetus for spurring additional commercial development on undeveloped land along the Grand Avenue corridor,” staff wrote in the report. “[And] it is likely that the project will add thousands of permanent jobs to the community upon completion, including spurring construction jobs as the area builds out.”

The development will also provide needed “affordable housing” and increase the city’s property tax base by “several hundred million dollars” when the project is complete.

The West Des Moines City Council is scheduled to meet at 5:30 p.m. Monday, Dec. 2, at City Hall, 4200 Mills Civic Parkway.