The Des Moines City Council’s approval of a $7 million grant for the Pro Iowa Soccer Stadium and Global Plaza pushes funding for the project over the finish line, leaders of the nonprofit behind the project said in comments ahead of Monday’s meeting.

The council’s approval was part of the consent agenda and there was no discussion.

Earlier in the day, Jeff Lorenzen, CEO of American Equity Investment Life Insurance Co. and board president of the Iowa Soccer Development Foundation, the group behind the project, said the $20 million funding gap was reduced through value engineering the project to get the cost down as well as additional fundraising through the private sector.

“The last piece was getting continued support from the city and this grant funding of $7 million closes that gap for us and allows us to move forward,” Lorenzen said.

The cost of the stadium is estimated to fall between $60 million to $70 million, with the total project, including the Global Plaza, estimated at between $80 million and $90 million.

ISDF has raised more than $90.8 million for the stadium and plaza through a combination of funding from grants and other assistance from the city of Des Moines, Polk County, the Iowa Reinvestment District Act program through the Iowa Economic Development Authority, Prairie Meadows, and the private sector.

Investors with a commitment of $1 million or more include American Equity, Musco Sports Lighting, MidAmerican Energy Co., Hy-Vee Inc., Catalyst Circle of the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines, and Kyle and Sharon Krause.

ISDF had wanted to tap into additional Iowa Reinvestment Act funding that was made available, but the city council voted Monday to ask IEDA to award $13 million in IRA funding to the Market District development.

“As a result, we got a different, creative financing opportunity with the city to allow us to work with them to close that gap,” Lorenzen said.

He said the next steps are to work with the city to begin preparing the former Dico Inc., site, a superfund site south of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and east of Fleur Drive.

Lorenzen said he expects site preparation to take nine to 12 months, with construction on the stadium and plaza to begin in late 2026 or early 2027. He said there is a planned 18-month to 24-month construction schedule with games being played in 2029.

“The work really starts now,” he said. “It’s getting an architect in place, making sure we’re engineering this to the right dollars and the right experience that we want to have and is valuable for the patrons of the stadium, and making sure as we’re building it, we have the expansion capabilities.”

Krause+ will be the developer behind the project.

The stadium and plaza will help bring people to downtown Des Moines, Lorenzen said, estimating it would attract more than 1 million people a year.

The stadium could be used for other events, too, such as concerts and other sports like lacrosse, he said.

It also will help tie in the south corridor along MLK Parkway from Gray’s Lake to the developing Market District, and the ICON Water Trails sites, and be a connector to nearby developments, Lorenzen said.
It will also add to the vibrancy of downtown and be another ingredient that will help with job retention and attraction, said Lorenzen, whose company announced in 2024 that it will move from its West Des Moines location to the Nationwide building at 1100 Locust St.

Lorenzen said the council’s approval of the grant was a “big milestone” for the project.

“We’re ready to move forward and make sure we deliver the highest quality product we can for the residents of Des Moines and Polk County, and the state of Iowa,” he said.

Market District

The council also voted Monday to ask the Iowa Economic Development Authority to award $13 million in Iowa Reinvestment Act funding to the Market District to build a hotel and parking ramp in the mixed-use development.

The vote happened during the consent agenda and there was no discussion.

The request to IEDA followed the state agency’s September announcement that it was opening a 90-day window for established reinvestment districts to apply for a share of additional dollars that had become available through the Iowa Reinvestment Act program.

The council also is seeking expansion of the city’s Capital Reinvestment District boundaries to include the Market District. The district currently included the Pro Iowa Soccer Stadium and Global Plaza site.

Developers behind the mixed-use Market District, located east of the Des Moines River and south of the East Village, expect to see vertical construction begin in the next 12 to 24 months and they had said earlier this fall that they would like to tap into that additional funding to move the development forward.

The deadline to submit an application for the funding is Dec. 23, and officials with IEDA have said those applications will be reviewed in the first quarter of 2026.