\
The team behind Des Moines’ downtown soccer stadium hopes to solidify funding and design plans in the next couple of months, a developer said Friday.
In a presentation to the Iowa Economic Development Authority board, Krause+ Director of Commercial Development Nate Easter said his company hopes to submit a final application for public funding to the authority by April or May. The board gave Krause+, the development arm of the Krause Group and a sister company of Kum & Go, a preliminary award of $23.5 million in 2021 to build the soccer stadium and other downtown projects.
Before receiving final approval for the funds, though, the developers have to show the IEDA that they have financing lined up to complete the project.
«We’re pushing hard to get this thing across the finish line,» Easter said Friday.
He later told the Des Moines Register in an email that the developers will work with public and private partners «on meeting the funding needs for the project» over the next couple of months.
In its initial application to the IEDA in February 2021, the developers estimated that building the stadium would cost about $75 million.
Since then, material prices spiked as commodity producers couldn’t keep up with demand amid a hot economy. Those prices have come down — but not to the level they were when Krause+ applied for public financing.
Previously:Downtown Des Moines soccer stadium delayed at least a year
The price for cold-rolled steel, a material important for the stadium project, is still up about 17% compared to two years ago. The average U.S. construction worker, meanwhile, is making $1,430 a week as of last month.
