Des Moines Buccaneers out of Merle Hay hockey arena plan; mall says an arena is still a go

A planned arena at Merle Hay Mall will move forward despite the Des Moines Buccaneers pulling out of the project, mall CEO Liz Holland said Tuesday.

Holland, who in May said the junior pro hockey team and the mall had agreed to the principal terms of a lease, confirmed Tuesday that, as first reported in Axios, the team has ended negotiations. But Holland said the mall's owner — Chicago-based Abbell Associates — nevertheless wants to go forward with construction of an arena.

"We continue to believe that sports and entertainment will be the best path forward for the mall," Holland said. "It's disappointing, but we're still moving forward."

Bucs owner Michael Devlin declined to comment.

It's the latest chapter in a four-year effort to build the arena and transform the west wing of the 65-year-old mall into a sports and entertainment hub. The Buccaneers and mall had until the end of June to reach an agreement so they could access $26.5 million in Iowa Economic Development Authority funds to convert the retail space into a 3,500-seat hockey arena.

In 2022 the IEDA approved plans to create a special reinvestment district at the mall, intended to allow the city of Urbandale to keep a larger share of revenues there and use funds to back bonds covering some of the private developers' up-front construction costs.

Holland said she wasn't certain whether, without the Bucs' participation, the project would continue to be eligible for the funds. IEDA spokesperson Staci Hupp Ballard did not respond to a request for comment.

Under state law, the IEDA board would have until July 1, 2025, to approve another district funding plan.

The mall straddles the Des Moines-Urbandale city line, with the western third in Urbandale, where the arena would be built in the space once occupied by Younkers and Kohl's stores. The cities pledged $3 million in tax support for the arena in the form of a tax-increment financing rebate. That rebate will be paid once a project is built, said Urbandale spokesperson Derek Zarn.

Urbandale and Des Moines remain supportive of the project, Zarn said.

"The two cities and Polk County remain committed to exploring future opportunities that assist with bringing new investment, growth, and vitality for a thriving Merle Hay Mall campus for the surrounding neighborhoods and the central Iowa region," he said.

Urbandale planned to use the Bucs arena project to stimulate growth in its nearby downtown district on Douglas Avenue.

"Everyone is eager to see a transformation that will bring more businesses, housing, and amenities" downtown, Aaron DeJong, Urbandale's economic development director, said in a June 19 news release about the city's master plan for the area.

Arena project has been unfolding for four years

Holland said 40% of requirements under the proposal to the IEDA already have been met. She cited the mall demolishing a former Sears store on its northeast side and building a new Kohl's store there , clearing the way for the Bucs' complex.

The original proposal, announced in 2020, called for the Bucs, a Tier 1 junior team of the United States Hockey League, to buy and convert the former Younkers store, empty since 2018, and the Kohl’s store into four ice rinks. The complex was intended to replace the Buccaneers' aging facility at 7201 Hickman Road in Urbandale.

The team has said it needs a new arena to help recruit and keep players in the USHL, where prospective NHL and NCAA Division I hockey players sharpen their skills.

"Des Moines shows well," Buccaneers President Nate Teut said in May of attracting players, "but a new facility allows us to offer all of the things kids are looking for, things that we are lacking right now. A new arena would be a complete game changer."

Under the plan, the arena and a practice rink would have been built in the Younkers space. Two additional rinks would have occupied the former Kohl’s space.

In 2021, the proposal beat out other projects across the state to get the IEDA funding. The Bucs held a ceremonial groundbreaking in May 2022 , but then repeatedly delayed work amid difficulties raising the rest of the estimated cost, which rose to $58.9 million from $40 million with rapid inflation in materials prices.

Eventually, as the team balked at the high price of construction, the plan flipped so that Abbell, the mall owner, would pay for the conversion and own the new arena, with the Bucs as the prime tenant.

The plan also trimmed the scale of the hockey facility and incorporated other entertainment elements. Kids Empire, an indoor play space, was added in the west wing. And in November, Dinks Pickleball, a 13-court pickleball center, opened in part of the old Kohl’s space. Holland said Dinks has been very successful and could take over the entire building.

"Dinks Pickleball is killing it," she said.

It's not known where the Bucs may go now as their 63-year-old arena — valued at just $100 by the Polk County Assessor's Office — deterioriates. But in July 2023, as the team and mall faced a lawsuit by the arena's designer for failure to pay a more than $1.1 million bill, Buccaneers part-owner Scott Clemmensen said an arena at the mall wasn't the team's only option.

"Whether it's at the mall or somewhere else … our intention is to find a suitable solution for the Buccaneers' arena," said the Urbandale native, a former coach of the National Hockey League's New Jersey Devils.

Mall sees arena as key to its future

For the mall, however, the arena could be key to its future. Struggling like many malls as retailing changes, it took cues from Mason City, which from 2017 to 2019 converted a former JCPenny store into a 2,044-seat hockey arena. Two junior hockey teams play there.

At Merle Hay, Sears and Younkers — anchor tenants since its opening in 1959 — announced plans to close within 35 days of each other in 2018. Instantly, the mall had a mortgage worth more than its property.

But Holland said the mall was able to use the unplanned closures to reimagine the space, part of an effort at diversification that has seen it open the Gameday arcade, bowling alley, bar and restaurant, the Flix Brewhouse cinema and other entertainment options.

Without the Buccaneers, the mall will lose the team's 30 home games per year, but Holland said she is optimistic it can fill that void with other events. There is still demand for a mid-sized sports and entertainment arena in central Iowa, she said.

Even without the team. the mall's arena would still have an ice rink, she said.

"We see the demand because hockey is really popular," Holland said. "It might not be the USHL there. Maybe it's other youth programs. We're still looking at that."

Philip Joens covers retail and real estate for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-284-8184, pjoens@registermedia.com or on Twitter @Philip_Joens.

Addison Lathers covers growth and development for the Des Moines metro. Reach her at 608-931-1761 or alathers@registermedia.com, and follow her on X at @addisonlathers.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Des Moines Buccaneers out of Merle Hay hockey arena plan; mall says an arena is still a go