New sports complex in the works for North Liberty

The North Liberty city council approved plans for a multi-million dollar sports complex spearheaded by former Hawkeye basketball player Kenyon Murray at its meeting March 25. The 50,000-square-foot facility will feature four basketball courts, specialized training and fitness areas, physical therapy, multi-purpose space and concessions. The building will be located on approximately four acres south of Liberty High School in the Liberty Commons subdivision. Renderings of the facility in the city’s agenda refer to the building as The Corridor Sports Performance Center.

Through his athletic program, Murray Elite, Mr. Murray is partnering with Jon Davidshofer of Build to Suit on the project. “We look at this project as a destination, a place that's going to provide resources to our community, whether it's North Liberty or other communities that we serve,” Mr. Murray told the council. “This is going to be a site where it's going to be different than anything else anybody has seen across the state. One of the biggest reasons for that is the fact that we will have two leasing tenants that will provide fitness rehabilitation and sport performance services to the community.” The facility will also be home to Mr. Murray’s nonprofit organization, the Murray Foundation. Through local partnerships and coupled with the sports complex, Mr. Murray hopes to give student athletes in grades 6 through 11 the foundation needed to succeed after school, “whether that's through career development, career readiness, whether it's through mental wellness, whether it's through the actual physical abilities that they'll be able to improve upon in this facility, we have to give them other skill sets to be successful after the ball stops bouncing, and that is what this is about,” he said. The facility will offer student athletes a range of services and programs, including basketball tournaments, recruiting events, basketball training programs, leadership development workshops, personal coaching sessions and seasonal basketball camps. The developers plan to partially fund the project using tax increment financing, redirecting nearly $1.3 million in new property tax revenue to support the development over eight years. The estimated maximum rebate is based on an initial assessed facility value of $6 million, according to the city’s agenda.

Additional funding will be a combination of private investment and fundraising, Mr. Davidshofer told the council. He explained the project’s financial uniqueness will require careful planning, as it’s “substantially different than a transactional real estate project,” noting the multiple funding sources and expenses. “What makes (the financial situation) difficult is it is a nonprofit, so you do have some limitations, but allows you to kind of raise your funds through different avenues,” he said. Council member Brent Smith asked the developers if there would be an opportunity to partner with The Palestra, a 36,000-square-foot sports complex on the corner of Hayes Lane and Penn Street that opened in July. “It's not about competing, it's about providing resources. We're better together than we are apart,” Mr. Murray said, adding that having multiple sport facilities in the area will redirect athlete traffic away from Des Moines. “How can we make this (area) a destination for people?” he continued. “And that means that we partner with all the entities that you have (mentioned) tonight, that's how we do it, and that's how we make this area great, that’s how we bring people in. So for us, it's been part of the business plan from day one to be able to collaborate.” The motion to develop an agreement with Murray Elite on the construction of a sports facility passed, 5-0. The development plans to break ground this September, with an estimated 12 to 14 months to completion.