As hockey arena plan drags on, Merle Hay Mall arcade owner says he faces having to close

Table of Contents

The owner of a Merle Hay Mall virtual reality arcade said he will likely have to close his business in the next two months after years of delays in the planned construction of a hockey arena there as part of the mall owner's strategy to draw more traffic at the aging retail center.

Ben Houk owns The White Rabbit Virtual Reality Arcade near the escalators leading to the Flix Brewhouse brewery and cinema. He opened it in 2021 after the mall and the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United States Hockey League announced plans to build the arena in the shell of the mall's former Younkers department store.

Plans for the arena have now gone through three incarnations, and no longer involve the Bucs. The latest revised proposal is awaiting approval by the Iowa Economic Development Authority, which is expected to provide a share of tax increment financing.

In the lead-up to the 2020 election, all eyes are on Iowa. Get updates of all things Iowa politics delivered to your inbox.

Houck said he was counting on the arena, announced in 2020, to reinvigorate the mall, and has lost $20,000 due to slow and unpredictable foot traffic.

"I spent all of my money waiting that through to see the other side of that plan, and now I’ve just spent 4 1/2 years in a dead mall," he said.

In a May 21 Facebook post Houk told customers that the business was in danger of closing. When his lease ended at the beginning of June, he extended it through the end of August. But he said September is typically his worst month, so he may decide not to renew it again.

"September is not going to help me," said Houck, who's taken a full-time job in addition to running the arcade on reduced hours as he tries to get by. "Anything that could possibly help me is going to be now through the end of August. That gives me a chance to see if asking the community for some sort of support, maybe we can turn this thing around."

He's not the only business owner in the mall who has suffered from the delays. In 2023, Brenda Tran of the mall's Vietnam Café started a GoFundMe account, to help her stay in business , saying, "I feel like I'm trapped."

Her food court neighbor, Maid Rite owner Brian Ickowitz, said in November that he based his decision to buy the franchise in 2019 on rumblings about the arena plans.

"That was a main reason why I bought this," Ickowitz said. "So I hope that they follow through with it."

Liz Holland, CEO of the mall's Chicago-based owner Abbell Associates, said the arena plan is still on track to "transform the western side of the mall."

“We share Ben’s frustration at the delays we have all experienced in the development of a hockey arena, sports and entertainment venue at Merle Hay," Holland said. "No one has been working on the mall redevelopment longer than we have."

Is the arena still planned?

The arena plan came about after both Younkers and Sears closed their stores in 2018.

The mall purchased the Younkers building for $1.5 million in 2019 with a loan from the Polk County supervisors. Originally, plans called for it to be a two-level retail space and family entertainment venue. But in 2020, the mall and the Bucs unveiled the arena plan as a replacement for the team's time-worn Urbandale rink.

Plans stalled as construction costs rose to $58.9 million from an estimated $40 million , outstripping the Bucs' resources. Holland's company stepped in and scaled the project down, agreeing to build the facility and lease it to the team. But the team pulled out in July and Holland decided to go it alone with tenants that will include Drake University's hockey team and the Iowa Demon Hawks professional indoor soccer club.

The Bucs and mall had faced a June 2024 deadline to finalize plans for the mall to get the $26.5 million in promised funding from the IEDA. But when negotiations between the team and mall fell apart, the IEDA granted more time to resubmit the proposal.

In its latest iteration, the plan calls for a 3,500-seat arena for youth hockey, concerts and other events and an eight-court volleyball facility

The IEDA is expected to consider the plan again later this summer. Construction is expected to take about 18 months and, provided the plan is approved, it could be finished in time for the arena to open in fall 2027.

Meanwhile, Holland said, "We will continue to work with Ben and White Rabbit VR in the hope that he can share in our success when the Arena complex opens," Holland said.

Philip Joens covers retail and real estate for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-284-8184 or pjoens@registermedia.com.

This story was updated to add a video.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: As hockey arena plan drags on, Merle Hay Mall arcade owner says he faces having to close

Post a Comment