An athletic club and multisports facility is proposed for the former Sears building at Southridge Mall in Des Moines. 
Photo provided by Polk County assessor

A Kansas-based health club is proposing to convert the site of the former Sears store at Southridge Mall into an athletic club and multisports facility with a focus on basketball, information included in a Des Moines City Council packet shows.

The estimated $13.5 million project would include space for gym weights, cardio equipment and basketball courts. A future expansion could include space for soccer, athletic training or a swimming pool, according to information provided to the council for its meeting on Monday.

The project is proposed by Genesis Health Clubs, whose corporate headquarters are in Wichita. The company, which in November acquired four Des Moines-area Aspen Athletic Clubs, has 50 locations in six Midwest states. The company began in 1986 at a single location in Wichita, according to its website.

Des Moines, like most other cities, has an overabundance of commercial space, a lot of which is obsolete, Erin Olson-Douglas, Des Moines’ economic development director, said.

For centers like Southridge to be successful, “we need to convert some of these [vacant buildings] to other uses,” Olson-Douglas said. “Having a health club part of it, that’s an ideal scenario not only for this site but for those other commercial sites in the area.

“It brings a new customer base for this area, while taking retail space off of the market,” she said.
Southridge Mall at 1111 E. Army Post Road opened in 1975 and at one time had four retail anchors: the now-defunct Younkers, Sears, Montgomery Ward and Richman Gordman, which after it went out of business, was replaced by J.C. Penney. The mall thrived for about two decades, with much of its retail space filled. 

After Jordan Creek Town Center opened in 2004, Southridge began to decline as shoppers flocked to the new mall in West Des Moines. In addition, many national big box stores like Sears struggled to survive as shoppers turned to e-commerce for many of their purchases.

Sears closed its store and auto center at Southridge in August 2016. The buildings have since sat empty.

It’s not unusual for large vacant retail space to remain unused for four years or more, Olson-Douglas said. Southridge’s owner has “really made it a priority to find a good reuse for that site.” 

In recent years, Southridge’s owners have worked to repurpose space in the center. In 2012, the Des Moines City Council approved a development agreement and master conceptual plan with Macerich Southridge LLC for the redevelopment of the center.

Des Moines Area Community College opened a satellite facility in the portion of the mall that had been occupied by J.C. Penney. A UnityPoint medical clinic was recently completed as an in-fill project and 334 residential units are planned in areas adjacent to the mall. In addition, a VA outpatient clinic is proposed at the site of the former Toys R Us building located on the Southridge property.

Genesis Health Clubs is proposing to buy and renovated the 105,000-square-foot building Sears occupied. It is also proposing to buy about 10 acres adjacent to the building. 

The health club group has a history in other markets of converting obsolete buildings to multisports facilities, Olson-Douglas said. “They have found success in making use of old building systems into athletic facilities.”

The council on Monday is expected to direct city officials to work with mall owners and Genesis Health Clubs on a development agreement that would include up to $7.4 million in financial assistance in the form of tax increment financing. The proposed assistance is 55% of total project costs.

In addition, the city would provide the mall owner with a $500,000 grant to pay for replacing the roof on the western portion of the mall.

Construction, which would begin in December, is expected to be completed in late 2021.