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With the approval of the SuperBlock Master Plan at last Monday’s Des Moines City Council meeting, the Blank Park Zoo Foundation (BPZF) is already gearing up to raise $20 million to $25 million for the first phase of the zoo’s expansion, and city officials are looking at how to fund the rest of the $65 million project and begin moving the A.H. Blank Golf Course south.

“The South Side hasn’t had something with this kind of fire and spark for quite a while, and all of a sudden, the spotlight is coming to the area,” said Terry Rich, CEO of the BPZF.

The master plan stemmed from a need for the zoo to expand after 40 years without any major updates. With several failed attempts to work out a land deal that would allow it to expand on the South Side, the city initiated a steering committee of about 15 stakeholders in the SuperBlock last August to work out a solution. They looked at the area bounded by Army Post and County Line roads and Southeast 14th and Southwest Ninth streets.

The new master plan allows the zoo to expand to more than 90 acres from its current 22. But it also will lead to revitalization of the South Side, with plans including:

•Enhanced streetscapes along Army Post and Chaffee roads;

•Eight miles of trails to connect facilities and serve as a buffer between the zoo’s expansion and the Somerset neighborhood, along with a possible park;

•A new city park on the Fort Des Moines parade grounds;

•A new aquatic center north of the zoo;

•A new hotel and indoor water park; and

•Possibly a winter sports park south of Southridge Mall.

“All the parties that maybe in the past haven’t gotten along are now on the same page as a way to move forward,” said Brian Meyer, a city councilman who represents the SuperBlock area and co-chair of the steering committee. “It’s something we can take to people and hopefully start raising money.”

These changes will not only create a year-round tourist destination, but will likely encourage more residential and commercial development in the area, especially along the Iowa Highway 5 bypass. Macerich Corp., manager of Southridge Mall, also is committed to investing in further improvements to the mall beyond the new interior paint, a children’s play area and renovated bathrooms it completed last year, said Pat Beckerdite, senior property manager of Southridge.

“Now there’s reason to do it, because now there’s going to be growth on the South Side,” he said. Improvements may include better landscaping and new signs, but renovation plans are still being discussed.

For the rest of the parties involved, Rich said, “as a total plan, it’s visionary, it’s aggressive, and I think it’s an investment that will reap great property tax and quality-of-life rewards for (the city) over the long term.”

First steps

Still, questions remain of how to fund the project and whether the Fort Des Moines Community Corrections Complex will move to create a more family-friendly entertainment area. Sally Kreamer, director of the 5th Judicial District’s Department of Correctional Services, said the SuperBlock committee has not approached her board about the plan, and at this point the district has no resources to move the facility.

“The issue is that it’s going to be extremely expensive to move the fort,” she said, “and there is no funding in their plan for that to happen.

“I think the ideas are good; the issue, of course, is funding. … If they would like to have us somewhere else, they also need to address the issue of where we would go.”

As owner of the zoo and golf course, and with ideas for public aquatic and winter sports parks, the city will play a major role in implementing the SuperBlock plan. But its total monetary contributions will depend on other sources including federal, state and county investments, grants and a possible tax-increment financing district.

One of its first steps will be to raise enough money to purchase land from the Des Moines Independent Community School District and begin moving five holes of the golf course to that land.

The BPZF expects to raise between $20 million and $25 million initially to pay for the first phase of the zoo’s expansion and then another $25 to $30 million to complete the project over at least 10 years, with enough money to fund operations in the near future. The city will cover any expenses to update the current zoo, which is estimated between $5 million and $10 million.

While the city works on moving the golf course, the BPZF has further agreed to invest $2.8 million in new exhibits at the current zoo in the next couple of years to continue to attract visitors during construction. It is working on its master plan, which it expects to complete by this fall.

Rich believes it will take 10 to 15 years before ground is broken on all projects affiliated with the master plan, with construction of the aquatic center and winter sports park being some of the last to be considered.

The main attraction

With admissions at U.S. zoos topping attendance at all National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball and National Football League games combined, Rich said the zoo’s expansion is an important investment in Iowa’s tourism industry.

The Blank Park Zoo is one of the top six attractions people go to when they visit Central Iowa during the summer, said Greg Edwards, president and CEO of the Greater Des Moines Convention and Visitors Bureau. “With the expansion,” he said, “their plans are really going to put us more on a world-class zoo map.”

The zoo’s expansion will include access to Army Post Road from a new entrance from Chaffee Road, six to eight North American exhibits located along Fort Des Moines Park, around 10 African exhibits located on existing golf course land and a tram system linking the existing zoo to the new area.

It will be smaller than the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, which has 130 acres, but Rich said, “we should be top four or five in certain species that we’ve never been able to do in the past.”

To draw people during the long construction process in the area, the zoo plans to open one new attraction a year, which Rich calls “the Jack Krantz Adventureland model.” Parties involved believe the zoo will be the main draw to the SuperBlock but the other tourist attractions and accommodations, such as a hotel with an indoor water park, will encourage families to stay on the South Side. Around 50 percent of the zoo’s visitors are from outside Central Iowa, Rich said.

“The idea would be you’d have one place where families can go and if you make the opportunity for them to stay more than one day, then they’ll stay on the South Side and spend their money on the South Side,” Meyer said.