After drawing meager crowds for the Iowa Stars’ two home preseason games, Wells Fargo Arena officials in Des Moines are banking on the first few weeks of the AHL regular season to persuade more Iowans to experience the market’s first professional hockey team in a modern sports facility.
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| Wells Fargo Arena, whose site was moved to a spot overlooking the Des Moines River, took five years to build. |
Building officials say that when people realize all they can do at the new arena — enjoy a steak dinner while watching a game in North American hockey’s top minor league, sit in a cushioned seat and absorb the video theatrics of the 923-foot LED ribbon board, and, for club-seat holders, enjoy a cold beverage and commune during intermission in the Miller Lite Club Lounge — they should be hooked.
It could take some time, in part, because the five years to build Wells Fargo Arena may have lulled locals into believing that the project would never be completed, said Randy Dvorak, HOK Sports’ principal-in-charge and a Carroll, Iowa, native.
“It’s the longest project from start to finish that I’ve been associated with,” Dvorak said, and he’s been with HOK for almost 22 years.
But it’s also a market accustomed to much older sports venues, and unaccustomed to amenities. Until the arena opened in July, area residents primarily relied on Principal Park, a Class AAA ballpark built 58 years ago and renovated in 1992; 50-year-old Veterans Memorial Auditorium (known locally as Vets); and 44-year-old junior league hockey rink 95KGGO Arena for sports events, not counting the facilities at Drake University.
Wells Fargo Arena is part of the $217 million Iowa Events Center, which also encompasses the new Hy-Vee Hall exhibition space, Vets and the existing convention center. Polk County owns the complex, financed through a state grant and county taxes. Gaming revenue from Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino in nearby Altoona will pay off construction debt.
The county hired Comcast-Spectacor’s four facility operations divisions — Global Spectrum, Front Row Marketing, Ovations Food Services and New Era Tickets — to manage the four buildings.
The Iowa Stars, a Dallas Stars affiliate and the $100 million arena’s lone sports tenant, attracted an estimated 1,700 in actual attendance for each of their two preseason games in the facility, which has parts of the upper two levels curtained off to seat about 10,000 for hockey. The team has sold 2,800 season tickets, said John Pettit, team president.
Local corporations, on the other hand, immediately understood the benefits of the new sports facility and have embraced the building’s sponsorship opportunities, based on the $1 million that the arena has generated in advertising revenue, excluding Wells Fargo Bank and Principal Financial Group naming-rights agreements.
Wells Fargo has enjoyed more than four years of brand exposure before the opening after signing a 20-year, $11.5 million naming-rights agreement in May 2001. Principal, among the leading firms in a city recognized as a hub for insurance companies, paid $1 million to sponsor the 200-seat restaurant and also bought naming rights for the 36-unit suite level.
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| A double-size suite functions as a party suite at the arena, where suite sales have been brisk. |
One side of the restaurant overlooks the arena’s south entrance. “When people come into the building they’re going to see other people eating and drinking, and that’s going to get them in the mood,” said Bernie Bilenki, Ovations’ general manager.
Anheuser-Busch bought an enclosed space on the arena’s southwest corner of the upper concourse called the Bud Light Zone for group hospitality, a location originally targeted as a secondary owner’s box for another sports tenant, said Andy Long, Global Spectrum’s arena manager.
Companies in town also quickly understood the building’s premium-seat perks. Front Row has sold 30 of the arena’s 36 suites. The other half-dozen are targeted for game-day and individual event rentals.
“It’s the new business luncheon — come down to the game,” said Erin Jenkins, Front Row’s director of premium seating.
The suites are between the main concourse and the second level and extend around three-quarters of the arena, stopping at the south end, home to the Principal River’s Edge restaurant. They range in price from $40,500 to $60,500 a hockey season, depending on the ticket package. Terms are three, five and seven years.
The suites are large for an arena in a secondary market, measuring about 450 square feet, Jenkins said. Polk County officials wanted the skyboxes to stand out in value when they were working with architects to plan the facility, Dvorak said.
“The county wanted to make sure it had a premium product that it could sell and maintain for financial reasons,” he said.
The 20 loge boxes below the suites on the arena’s east side sold out, and Front Row wishes the building had 20 more to sell on the west side, Jenkins said.
Sixteen loges have four seats and leased for $10,750 a year for a three-year contract or $9,750 annually for five years. Four loges have eight seats and sold for $19,000 a year for a seven-year deal. Each loge has counter space in the rear and waitservice.
Front Row had sold 360 of the 604 club seats as of early October and has found that type of premium inventory to be the toughest sell in the market. That’s due primarily to the public’s misconception of the product, Jenkins said. The club seats are between the blue lines on the arena’s east side and cost $1,400 to $1,700 a year based on terms of two, three or four years.
Colored sheets of paper were taped to unsold club seats during the Stars’ second exhibition, reminding patrons that they were still available.
Again, it’s a matter of educating customers, Jenkins said. Once they figure out that buying a club seat provides them the opportunity to buy tickets to other arena events before those seats go on sale to the general public, sales should improve, she said.
“We’re starting to advertise them more and get the collateral out there with hockey starting up,” Jenkins said.
The lengthy process to build Wells Fargo Arena probably didn’t help with publicizing and promoting those amenities.
Two lawsuits challenging the public financing and project labor agreements (both of which reached the Iowa Supreme Court and were decided in the county’s favor), Kansas City-based steel supplier Havens Steel’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and one of the wettest springs in central Iowa history translated to delays totaling 18 months, said Mark Stevens, the county’s project director.
The county board approved an additional $7 million in public money to cover the cost overruns associated with the delays, said Mike Grimaldi, the county’s regional facilities manager.
“It was a challenge to begin with because of the new facilities built around Vets, which we continued to operate,” Stevens said.
The arena site itself shifted east from a location north of the old auditorium to a sloping bank by the Des Moines River, property that would provide unobstructed views of the waterway, downtown and the Iowa capital’s gold-plated dome, Dvorak said.
The change also placed the new arena across the street from the new exhibit hall, which contained the central power plant for both buildings.
Part of the arena’s interior and exterior design evokes images of Iowa’s linear farmland patterns, Dvorak said.
The contrast among the horizontal and vertical steel frames in the building’s glass walls “probably came from the rows of corn you see in the field and how they cross and appear more predominant,” he said.
The arena’s exterior was originally designed to be mostly stone with brick accents. The plan was “flipped,” however, and the materials used outside became primarily brick with stone detailing to cut down on costs and tie the building together with Vets, built in 1955 entirely with brick, Dvorak said.
Inside, it’s the clearly defined, functional spaces that distinguish the arena, said Long, Global Spectrum’s GM.
Three examples: the children’s play area, separated by a door, but still contained within the backstage hospitality space reserved for families of hockey players and entertainers; the three auxiliary locker rooms to accommodate high school athletes competing in state tournaments every spring; and the private conference room in the administrative offices, where arena officials and promoters settle their finances after events.
“This arena was built well to handle the tenants and our staff,” Long said. “It’s a good mix across the board.”
The interior finishes aren’t fancy. There’s no terrazzo flooring, only bare concrete, although the county could upgrade those surfaces in coming years, Dvorak said.
“It’s an honest building,” he said. “This is about Iowa and for Iowa. We didn’t try to bring something from somewhere else.”
