American Equity Investment Life Insurance Co. has contributed $5 million toward a project to build a multiuse professional soccer stadium and Global Plaza in downtown Des Moines, the company announced this morning. 

An architectural rendering of the proposed stadium and plaza project on the former Dico Inc. site at 200 S.W. 16th St. in Des Moines. Rendering special to the Business Record

American Equity Investment Life Insurance Co. has contributed $5 million toward a project to build a multiuse professional soccer stadium and Global Plaza in downtown Des Moines, the company announced this morning. 

Pro Iowa, a campaign to bring professional soccer to Iowa, along with the real estate arm of Krause Group and the city of Des Moines, plans to use sales and hotel-motel taxes generated from the Iowa Reinvestment Act to help pay for the $535 million project that would include 29 separate projects. 

The centerpiece of the ambitious redevelopment plan would be the construction of a professional soccer stadium that would be located on 6 acres at the former Dico Inc. site at 200 S.W. 16th St. In 1983, the site was added to the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund list. 

Immediately surrounding the proposed stadium would be what’s being called the Global Plaza, parking for about 500 vehicles, a hotel and additional soccer fields as well as access to the Raccoon River.

Anant Bhalla, CEO and president of the Des Moines-based American Equity, said the company is delighted to support the project.

“The legacy Dico Industrial EPA Superfund site has been an eyesore for the region for over 20 years, and we want to be part of the metamorphosis of this site and work with other leaders in the metro area to attract diverse and dynamic talent to the metro area,” Bhalla said in a release.

The Iowa Soccer Development Foundation, the local nonprofit in charge of the fundraising efforts, has raised over $19.6 million toward its private funding goal. Pro Iowa and Iowa Soccer Development Foundation leaders are in continued conversations regarding the future of the Superfund site and its potential for redevelopment into the Pro Iowa Stadium and Global Plaza. 

Cleanup on the superfund site is scheduled to begin this month with completion expected later this summer.

“American Equity’s core values of serving and contributing to the communities where they live and work align with Iowa Soccer Development Foundation’s mission,” Charley Campbell, Iowa Soccer Development Foundation secretary, said in the release. “Pro Iowa strives to unite people through soccer and through other shared experiences with the redevelopment of the Superfund site and creation of Iowa’s first professional soccer stadium.”