By CHUCK OFFENBURGER

DES MOINES, Iowa, Oct. 29, 2025 — In case you haven’t been following economic development news for downtown Des Moines, there are two huge projects in the late planning stages, each totaling $600 million or more in the value of the new properties that would be constructed.

The projects would be across the southern edge of the business district, generally along Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway.

On the west end, one of the projects, the “Pro Iowa Soccer Stadium & Global Plaza,” would start just east of Fleur Drive (the road to the airport), be north of the Raccoon River, and extend to 16th Street Southwest. There are plans for a hotel, residential housing, restaurants and other retail space. The key players are developer and philanthropist Kyle Krause, his Krause+ real estate development team, and the non-profit Iowa Soccer Development Foundation.

On the east end, the other project, the “Market District,” would be in the southern part of the East Village. The plans are for residential housing, businesses, restaurants, outdoor gathering places, and a large parking garage to serve the neighborhood. The key players are developer and philanthropist James Cownie, his JSC Properties, and builder Tim Rypma.

Both projects seek financial support from the City of Des Moines, Polk County and the State of Iowa, and both are lining up business and individual investors.

An architect’s rendering of the proposed “Pro Iowa Soccer Stadium & Global Plaza.” (Courtesy of the Krause Group)

The Des Moines City Council is expected to vote soon — perhaps as early as next week — on how $20-plus million in State of Iowa development funding will be allocated between the two projects.

At my age, 78, I want both these projects to happen now, bettering my chances of being around to enjoy the amenities when they’re completed. But these projects aren’t being proposed with us septuagenarians in mind. They’re all about younger generations, here now and to come.

Still, with the economic impact both projects promise, why not do both — ASAP?

They will create thousands of new jobs, both in construction and then in staffing all the new businesses. New housing is going to make it possible for thousands of new residents downtown. New venues and new attractions mean ever-more tourism. Build that tax base!

I respect the business judgment of James Cownie, whom we’ve all watched closely since he introduced us to cable television back in the 1970s and ’80s. And I’m grateful he’s still actively involved in Iowa, even when he’s older than I am.

But if one of these projects is more important — and more urgent — than the other, I believe it is Krause’s “Pro Iowa Soccer Stadium & Global Plaza.”

The “Market District” development, in my view, will give us more of what we’ve already got in the East Village. Yes, it’s very nice.

But I don’t see it as the economic driver, city builder and entertainment bonanza that the soccer development will be. It’s a fresher idea, more visionary, world-class.

A second portrayal of the “Pro Iowa Soccer Stadium & Global Plaza.” (Krause Group)

It took a trip that my wife Mary Riche and I made to Italy in September —all at our own expense to be clear — for me to realize fully what the 62-year-old Kyle Krause and his wife Sharon have going on right now.

As I wrote on that trip, Kyle is at the top of his business-building game.

He has grown from a kid in Hampton, Iowa, whose father started with a small gas station but a big idea — convenience stores. Note: There was no soccer in Hampton back then.

Kyle became a third-generation entrepreneur who eventually headed the Krause multi-state chain of about 400 Kum & Go convenience stores, banks, gas transport trucks, Iowa farms and other family businesses.

 

Kyle Krause, in Parma, Italy. (Parma Calcio 1913 Football Club)

He also learned soccer by coaching his kids after the Krauses had moved to Des Moines in 1988. He not only coached but played adult soccer himself. And he has now operated a top amateur soccer team, the Menace, in Des Moines for 27 years, with average attendance of 3,300 at Valley Stadium in West Des Moines.

Meanwhile, his interest in his own Italian heritage began to grow.

In the past 10 years, he has also bought and now operates two historic wineries in that northwestern potion of Italy, as well as the 39-room “Casa di Langa,” the best and most “eco-conscious” hotel I’ve ever stayed in.

He also brought some of his international inclinations back home to Des Moines in 2018 when the Krause Group, as the changing business became known, moved into the Krause Gateway Center downtown. It is probably the finest and most-striking looking business building in Iowa, designed by legendary Italian architect Renzo Piano.

The Krause Gateway Center at 15th and Grand Avenue in downtown Des Moines.

For the past five years, he has also been owner of an Italian professional soccer club, Parma Calcio 1913, now with both men’s and women’s teams playing at the top level of Italian soccer.

Kyle’s next step was his biggest. In 2023, the Krause Group sold most of their businesses to a rival, Maverik, for a reported 10-figure total.

He is now willing to invest a substantial part of that to pursue his dream of founding a professional United States League Championship (USLC) soccer franchise here in Des Moines. It would start with a men’s team, eventually adding a women’s team. They would play just below the top level of professional soccer in this country, which is Major League Soccer (MLS).

There are 25 USLC men’s teams in the U.S., in such cities as Tampa Bay, Las Vegas, Miami, Sacramento, Phoenix, Pittsburgh and others.

Des Moines needs a suitable stadium to secure a franchise, and that’s what is proposed in the $93 million “Pro Iowa Soccer Stadium & Global Plaza.”

“It’s not something we have now in Des Moines,” Krause told me in an interview Monday. “The stadium we’re planning will have approximately 8,000 seats. It will be a multi-use stadium that can be used for other sports and events.” Think NCAA soccer tournaments, rugby, field hockey and more.

“The plaza around it will be available for festivals, art shows, other gatherings,” he contined. “There will be benches around the plaza, nice restrooms and electricity out there, too. It will be an environment you see today around stadiums in Europe.”

The City of Des Moines owns the land, which is a 38 or 40-acre tract that is, uh, ugly.

The approximate site of the proposed “Pro Iowa Soccer Stadium & Global Plaza.” It’s going to look a whole lot better than this!

It was the site of an industrial company, Dico, Inc., for about 40 years. That company manufactured steel wheels and also did “chemical and pesticide formulation,” according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It has been idle and undergoing decontamination, clean-up and monitoring for another 40 years.

Under the “Pro Iowa” proposal, the City will complete the clean-up, retain ownership of the land, but lease it long-term to the Iowa Soccer Development Foundation (ISDF), which is a newly-formed 501(c)3 organization that will own the stadium. The foundation’s board president is Jeff Lorenzen, who is also CEO of American Equity Investment Life Insurance Company. The ISDF then intends to contract Kyle Krause as the developer and operator of the stadium.

“Having a developer and operator who has expertise like Kyle does is very important to the foundation,” Lorenzen said on Sunday. “He can drive the success of it. His being an owner of the professional Italian teams and his experience there helps us get our soccer franchise with the USLC, too, I’m sure.”

Jeff Lorenzen, president of the board of the Iowa Soccer Development Foundation.

Kyle and Sharon Krause have also made the largest personal pledge to the project of any of the investors — $23 million.

But that’s probably half or less of what they’ll ultimately pay. The Krauses will also be responsible for contracting and equipping 20 to 30 players, coaches and other personnel for both the men’s and women’s teams, which Kyle says will probably require “$20 to $25 million.” And he’ll be paying the franchise fee to the league, and that is expected to be more than $20 million.

The economic development they do themselves around the soccer complex — hotel, restaurants, housing and more — will require even bigger investment, but that’s also where big returns can be expected.

If it all happens like this, Krause Group expects to be hiring another 100 associates or more to manage the projects from the Krauses Gateway Center.

Will it be worth it?

“We want to have a world-class attraction,” said Lorenzen, “and that’s the kind of investment required. But, yes, we think it will work. Soccer is the fastest growing sport in the world, you know. And with the World Cup competition being played in cities around the U.S. in 2026, we think that will create even more of a buzz in this country, and that will help us.”

As a business executive, he said the Des Moines metro area needs more attractions like this “to help us hire enough young people to keep our businesses growing.”

Lorenzen then said he imagines approaching the site from the south, “driving north on Fleur Drive, coming across the bridge, looking east and seeing that new stadium, with people congregating all around on the plaza. World-class.”

I told him that I think of approaching it from the north.

Stand at 15th and Grand Avenue, and you look at that amazing Krause Gateway Center. Then walk south along the Pappajohn Sculpture Park. Ahead you see the showroom of the American Dream Machines custom car shop. Look up to the south, on the Fitch Building, at the eye-popping 3D LED lights installation called “TimePiece” by the artist Oyoram, who lives and works in Des Moines. Walk on a couple blocks south to the site where a 40-acre environmental wasteland that has been turned into a spectacular new stadium and plaza, surrounded by thriving businesses and residences.

World-class, indeed.

I still favor doing both big projects in downtown Des Moines. But if we can only do one of them now, it ought to be “Pro Iowa Soccer Stadium & Global Plaza.”

“Timepiece” by Oyoram.

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