From department store to multiuse arena
How an email set in motion a proposal to transform empty department store space into an arena for hockey, concerts and other uses Friday, December 18, 2020 6:00 AM Next step: Applying for state money Before the proposed 3,500-seat multipurpose arena at Merle Hay Mall can move forward, the project needs financing, part of which backers hope comes from the Iowa Reinvestment Act.
The program, overseen by Iowa Economic Development, allows cities to create special districts where money from sales and hotel-motel taxes can be set aside to help pay for projects that spur economic development.
In place since 2013, the reinvestment act has provided key financing to several high-profile Iowa projects, including the $101 million convention hotel in downtown Des Moines. That hotel received $36 million from the act, the largest amount provided for any project. A Mason City project that included converting em
NOTEBOOK: Merle Hay Mall becoming a mix of uses, its owner says Wednesday, December 23, 2020 8:00 AM
Elizabeth Holland didn’t mince words recently when she spoke to a Des Moines board about her vision for Merle Hay Mall, a shopping center developed in 1959 by her grandfather and another man.
Des Moines, she told members of the city’s Urban Design Review Board during a recent meeting, is not immune to the changing demands of retail consumers, who increasingly have turned to e-commerce to purchase items they need for their daily living.
The demands of consumers have changed since the advent of the shopping center, Holland said. And that means Des Moines “at best is now a two-mall town.”
From department store to multiuse arena
How an email set in motion a proposal to transform empty department store space into an arena for hockey, concerts and other uses Friday, December 18, 2020 6:00 AM Next step: Applying for state money Before the proposed 3,500-seat multipurpose arena at Merle Hay Mall can move forward, the project needs financing, part of which backers hope comes from the Iowa Reinvestment Act.
The program, overseen by Iowa Economic Development, allows cities to create special districts where money from sales and hotel-motel taxes can be set aside to help pay for projects that spur economic development.
In place since 2013, the reinvestment act has provided key financing to several high-profile Iowa projects, including the $101 million convention hotel in downtown Des Moines. That hotel received $36 million from the act, the largest amount provided for any project. A Mason City project that included converting em
Whereâs Kohlâs? Proposed master plan for Merle Hall Mall excludes retailer Monday, December 14, 2020 11:41 AM
A proposed Merle Hay Mall master plan was released today. The master plan includes the footprint of a proposed new ice arena and hotel, both of which would take up space now occupied by Kohl’s department store. Master plan rendering by Woolpert architecture firm
A proposed multiuse arena at Merle Hay Mall would stretch from the former Younkers department store site north into where Kohl’s department store is now located, according to a master plan for the mall property released today in advance of Tuesday’s Des Moines Urban Design Review Board meeting.
JPMorgan Chase to enter Iowa market with first consumer branch in Des Moines Friday, December 11, 2020 11:32 AM
JPMorgan Chase, one of the oldest U.S. financial institutions, announced it plans to open its first consumer and community bank branch in Iowa next year with the opening of a Des Moines branch at Merle Hay Road and Douglas Avenue. The initial location is expected to open early in the third quarter of 2021, with four or five additional branches in Central Iowa to follow. The bank has already received approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency for the Des Moines branch, a spokesman said. The New York-based bank established a commercial banking presence in Des Moines in September 2018. “We look forward to establishing our roots in Des Moines and helping Iowans make the most of their money,” said Majda Hadzic, market director of banking for Chase in Iowa, who will oversee consumer and community branches in the Des Moines market. “Our ban