A master plan for the proposed soccer stadium complex, valued at $95 million, includes a five-story building for office and retail and a 500-space parking garage. 
Rendering by INVISION Architecture

The Des Moines City Council on Monday is expected to approve a parcel development agreement with Blackacre Development LLC that will allow the group to buy 11 acres where an outdoor sports and entertainment venue is proposed to be built.

However, approval of the agreement “in no way obligates the city to financially support the stadium,” Des Moines assistant city manager Matt Anderson told the Business Record.

Blackacre Development is a subsidiary of Krause Group,which in September announced a proposal to build a 6,000- to 8,000-seat multiuse sports stadium that would be home to a United Soccer League Championships franchise team.

In addition to the stadium, the development along Southwest 14th Street south of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway would include a 500-vehicle parking ramp, restaurants and a five-story, 150,000-square-foot mixed-use retail and office building.

The stadium, which would include a street-level plaza, is valued at $60 million; the remainder of the proposed development is valued at $35 million.

Currently, much of the land in the proposed development area is owned by Minneapolis developer George Sherman’s Riverpoint West LLC. An agreement with Sherman requires the city to approve the potential sale of land parcels. Monday’s council action would allow Blackacre Development to buy the land for proposed development, according to Anderson.

Blackacre has an agreement to buy the land from Sherman,according information provided to the Urban Design Review Board in November. The deadline to buy the land is Dec. 31 in order to meet benchmarks established by the soccer league and project investors. A purchase price was not provided for the land, which according to the Polk County assessor’s website is valued at $1.8 million.

Backers of the effort to bring professional soccer to the Des Moines area have until April 1 to show support, financially and otherwise, for a team and soccer stadium. Kyle Krause, who would own the professional soccer team, has said he would contribute to the startup costs for the club as well as provide a “substantial funding mechanism” for development of the stadium. Krause is chairman and CEO of Krause Group, the parent company of Kum & Go convenience stores.