A fascinating standoff has escalated further.
ICYMI in November: The nonprofit Iowa Youth Athletics Foundation opened the $40M Kettlestone Youth Sports Complex in Waukee last year -- the state’s largest youth sports facility at over 140K-square-feet with 12 basketball courts and 18 volleyball courts.
Dallas County then ruled the venue was not tax-exempt — even though IYAF is considered a public charity by the IRS and has two tax-exempt facilities an hour away in Ames.
IYAF filed a lawsuit, claiming it cannot afford the tax bill and would be forced to sell the complex to a for-profit buyer if the decision was not reversed.
Back to today: The complex is now on the market, according to The Des Moines Register. No price has been set. A jury trial on the lawsuit is scheduled to begin in April and a judge has blocked tax collection for now, but IYAF has indicated it would sell immediately if a buyer materializes.
IYAF said a new owner would likely be more focused on running a business than serving the community. And that argument could cut through given the stakes — Kettlestone sits inside a proposed $350M multi-use district with a projected annual local economic impact of $125M.
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