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Council approves Merle Hay Mall IRA amendment to support arena, volleyball and pickleball plan
Summary
Urbandale approved an amendment request to the Merle Hay Mall Iowa Reinvestment Act award to shift the project scope away from four-sheet rinks toward a mixed sports complex and to permit the city to pursue municipal financing backed by future sales and lodging tax revenues.
The Urbandale City Council on April 15 approved an amendment to the Merle Hay Mall Iowa Reinvestment Act (IRA) plan so the project can shift scope and pursue upfront municipal financing backed by future sales and lodging tax rebates.
Aaron DeYoung, Urbandale's economic development director, told the council the original IRA award (approved in February 2022) allocated $26.5 million in future sales-tax and lodging-tax rebates for redevelopment of the Merle Hay Mall campus. Under the amendment the mall's previously proposed four-sheet ice facility will be reworked: the Yonkers space would host an arena, the north parcel would host a volleyball training and competition facility, and the former Coles location is already operating as a pickleball facility.
DeYoung said the amendment requests two principal changes: (1) authorization to use a future municipal bond (paid from the IRA's future sales and lodging tax rebate stream) to pull construction dollars forward…
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