The Kettlestone Central Sports Complex in Waukee is for sale — a move its owner had previously said in a lawsuit against Dallas County officials was possible.
The Iowa Youth Athletic Foundation, which provides facilities and financial aid for youth athletic programs, owns the two-building complex that opened less than a year ago at 2045 SE Glacier Trail and has been touted as one of the biggest indoor wood court spaces in the United States. But the Ames-based nonprofit foundation filed a lawsuit in June against the Dallas County Board of Review in an attempt to reverse the county assessor’s decision to not make the property tax exempt.
Without tax exempt status, the foundation said in its lawsuit it may be forced to close the basketball and volleyball facility or sell it to a for-profit entity, “which will likely be less generous to the community and more focused on earning enough revenue to cover the expenses of the Complex.” The foundation said in its lawsuit its annual tax bill for the $40 million complex could be $500,000 to $1 million.
“Unfortunately, that warning has become reality,” Todd Lantz, an attorney representing the foundation, said Monday, Feb. 23 in a statement to the Des Moines Register. “As a charitable nonprofit, Iowa Youth cannot afford the significant property tax bill for this complex. Thus, to protect Iowa Youth’s ability to continue its charitable mission, it has been forced to explore a potential sale.”
Bill Wright, senior vice president of commercial real estate agency CBRE in West Des Moines, said the listing was secured in November and his team started marketing the property early this year.
The more than 147,000-square-foot gym complex is unpriced and immediately available.
The foundation’s lawsuit against the Dallas County Board of Review is still active, according to online court records.
Lantz said a first non-jury trial on the question of the property’s tax-exempt status is scheduled for April 15. He said a second non-jury trial scheduled for Jan. 5, 2027, would be on the question of the property’s valuation. The Dallas County assessor valued the complex’s buildings and land as commercial property worth more than $19.2 million.
Developers of the complex have expected it to be an annual $125 million economic engine for Waukee and the core of future development in the Kettlestone Central area stretching west to Grand Prairie Parkway.
Phillip Sitter covers the suburbs for the Des Moines Register. Phillip can be reached via email at PSitter@usatodayco.com. Find out more about him online in the Register’s staff directory.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Kettlestone gym complex in Waukee for sale amid property tax dispute
Reporting by Phillip Sitter, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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