In November 2020, much excitement was generated by Merle Hay Mall’s owner’s announcement that former department store space in the center would get new life as the home arena for the Des Moines Buccaneers and other related activities. 

Much has occurred since that announcement: A pandemic shut down the nation’s economy. The cost of building materials skyrocketed. Interest rates for commercial loans soared.

But through the economic flux, plans for the redevelopment of the empty space moved forward. Properties were rezoned to allow development of a 3,500-seat multi-use arena, adjacent training center and hotel. A lengthy application was prepared for the Iowa Reinvestment District Program, resulting in an award totaling $26.5 million. A groundbreaking ceremony was held. Urbandale, Des Moines and Polk County officials met weekly to discuss development-related issues. 

What hasn’t occurred, however, is a finalized agreement between owners of the mall and the Buccaneers. That key missing piece prompted leaders of the two cities and Polk County to give the mall and hockey organization until Dec. 31 to reach an agreement or risk losing the award from the state.

“We need to determine the path forward that leads to redevelopment and reinvestment in the [Merle Hay] campus,” said Curtis Brown, Urbandale’s assistant city manager. “We need to know if the Bucs’ arena is going to be a catalyst for that. If it is, that meets our goal to strengthen the mall and keep the Bucs playing in Urbandale.

“If not, then we need to work together with the mall to explore other plans,” he said.

Deal will get done, mall owner says

Elizabeth Holland, CEO of Merle Hay Investors, the group that owns the center, said she is confident that an agreement with the Buccaneers can be completed by the deadline. 

“It’s in everybody’s best interest to get a deal done,” Holland said. “In my experience in business, you can always rely on someone to act in their own economic best interest, and I believe that this is that deal for both of us, so I’m confident we can get it done.”

Michael Devlin, part of the Buccaneers ownership group, told the Business Record that the team remains interested in relocating to a new arena and training facility at the mall.

“We are hopeful that this project comes to fruition,” Devlin wrote in an email. 

“We are also thinking of all of our partners that will benefit from a new facility as well,” Devlin wrote, naming the Des Moines Capitals Midwest high school hockey league, Central Iowa Figure Skating Club, Des Moines Youth Hockey Association and other groups that use the Bucs’ current facility. 

“We are part of a greater hockey and ice sports community that needs a new facility to continue the growth of these sports and to provide a great environment for our fans and supporters,” Devlin wrote.

Nate Teut, president of the Buccaneers, said negotiations between Holland and Devlin are ongoing but that he didn’t know specifics. 

“This has been going on for three years, so to say it’s going to get done in six weeks, I just don’t know,” Teut said. “I do think that they are going to work as hard as they can to try to get something done.”

The arena the Buccaneers play in opened in 1961 at 7201 Hickman Road in Urbandale. The aged facility was damaged in the August 2020 derecho, which left part of the structure’s roof strewn across the parking lot. The derecho’s high winds were followed by heavy rains that damaged the interior of the facility.

The team’s owners have made hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs and upgrades to the facility, Teut said. “The building is fine. It’s dry. It’s structurally safe. We can play here until we find a new home.”

Alternatives to relocating to an arena at Merle Hay have been explored, Teut said. “I think given the fact that it’s been a struggle to get [the project] off the ground, we are doing our due diligence to see what else is out there but we remain focused on Merle Hay.”

Mall attracts new tenants

Merle Hay Mall sits on the northwest corner of Merle Hay Road and Douglas Avenue, straddling the city boundaries of Des Moines and Urbandale. The mall was anchored by Younkers and Sears department stores when it opened in 1959 as an open-air shopping center. Over the years, the center was enclosed and expanded west into the city of Urbandale. 

Since the November 2020 announcement, changes have occurred at the mall. Kohl’s relocated to a new building that faces Merle Hay Road. Kids Empire, an indoor play center for children, opened on the west side of the mall. Dinks Pickleball is opening an indoor pickleball venue in space that had previously been occupied by Kohl’s. The 70,000-square-foot venue will have 13 courts. IH Mississippi Valley Credit Union opened a branch on an outlot along Merle Hay Road.

The proposed arena, training center and hotel would be on the mall’s west side, most of which is within Urbandale’s city limits. The arena would anchor the east end of the community’s downtown area, which has begun to see renewed redevelopment interest.

“The logic has been for several years now that the arena would be that big catalyst for reinvestment,” said Aaron DeJong, Urbandale’s economic development director. “If it’s not, we will need to figure out other strategies to create that forward momentum for downtown.”

Brown said the city continues to work with Holland and the Buccaneers. While Iowa Economic Development Authority officials understand the complexities involved with pushing forward a project valued at $140 million, their patience will run out soon, he said.

“They’ve given us ample time to respond with financial commitments but that time is not unlimited,” Brown said. “And so, for the state, and everyone else involved, we wanted to determine a date for action.”

Urbandale officials will continue to work with Holland on redeveloping Merle Hay Mall’s west side if the arena project fails to move forward, Brown said. “I think the one that’s clear is that the public stakeholders want a vibrant Merle Hay campus.”

Different lease arrangement pursued

Holland has worked on at least three different scenarios with the Buccaneers, she said. Originally, the Buccaneers were going to buy the area where the arena is planned. The Bucs ownership group was also going to lead the redevelopment of the vacant department store space. Last fall, Holland took over the redevelopment reins and began negotiating a lease agreement with Devlin and his team, she said.

“The structure of them being a single tenant in a multi-tenant building wasn’t working so we pivoted to a master lease last January,” Holland said. The agreement was going to be structured so that the Buccaneers were the only tenant in the building and would be responsible for all revenue-generating activities, she said. Groups that wanted to have events in the space would arrange it through the Buccaneers’ ownership group.

“This summer, we pivoted back to [the Buccaneers] being a single tenant in a multi-tenant building and I would be responsible for the programming in the building,” Holland said. “That’s the [agreement] we are working on now.”

Holland said that if an agreement is reached, the project is ready to move forward. When Merle Hay Investors took over redevelopment of the space, plans were reviewed to find cost savings, she said. “We had everything repriced. That pricing is only a year old and since we did [the value engineering], costs have come down and contractors have more time. … The construction market has moved in our favor.”

If an agreement is reached, Holland said demolition work could begin in the spring. She said she’s optimistic an arena could open in fall of 2025.  

Read the letter: To read the Nov. 3 letter sent to the owners of Merle Hay Mall and Des Moines Buccaneers, click here.