The Capital City Reinvestment District: A Transformational Investment in Iowa's Future

What Is a Transformational Project?
Iowa created the Reinvestment District Program to help communities take on projects that are larger than a single building or development. Administered by the Iowa Economic Development Authority, the program is intended to bring public and private investment together to redevelop underutilized areas, improve quality of life, attract new investment and generate long-term economic growth. The premise is that a transformational project can create benefits that extend beyond its individual footprint and into the surrounding community, region and state.

That is an important characteristic. Transformational development is not about approving a series of smaller projects and hoping they eventually add up to something bigger. It is about creating enough investment, activity and critical mass to change an area and attract additional investment around it.

What Is the Capital City Reinvestment District?
Des Moines' Capital City Reinvestment District (CCRD) was approved by the Iowa Economic Development Authority in October 2024 to support exactly that kind of large-scale redevelopment in downtown Des Moines. The district was created around three connected areas, the Stadium Neighborhood, Western Gateway and Gray's Landing, and was expanded in 2026 to include approximately 50 additional acres in the Market District.

The district encompasses a broad mix of redevelopment opportunities, including housing, hospitality, retail, restaurants, entertainment, commercial development and public spaces. The Stadium Neighborhood includes the soccer stadium and Global Plaza along with the surrounding hotel, retail, entertainment and residences. The Western Gateway and Gray's Landing add additional residential, hospitality, retail and commercial activity, while the Market District further expands the footprint and investment opportunity.

The significance of the CCRD is its scale and its connections. It brings together multiple areas and multiple types of investment with the goal of creating a larger economic impact than any individual project could produce on its own.

The Value Was Never Just a Stadium
The stadium is an important part of the Capital City Reinvestment District (CCRD), but its significance comes from what it can help create around it. A stadium can bring people into an area, but the surrounding housing, hotels, restaurants, retail and entertainment give them reasons to stay, spend and return. That activity supports additional private investment and helps create the density of uses needed for a district to become a destination. This is what makes a transformational project different from a series of smaller developments.

The CCRD was created around that larger opportunity. The goal was not to have one project succeed in isolation, but to create enough momentum and investment to change a significant part of downtown Des Moines.

Why the Scale Matters
Des Moines has spent years building the public-sector framework for the CCRD with the State of Iowa. The district has expanded, state participation has grown and public-private investment has been brought to the table. Bringing both a women's and men's professional USL team to Des Moines is a major part of that investment, with the stadium serving as an anchor for the surrounding development.

That matters when considering the City's decision to end negotiations over the development surrounding the stadium. The issue is not whether the City can continue with the stadium. It has said it will. The issue is whether a transformational district can achieve its intended impact when a considerable piece of the investment strategy is considered separately rather than as part of the larger effort. A city can approve individual buildings one at a time. It can add a project here and there. But that is a different development strategy from building the critical mass required to transform an area.

For the CCRD to deliver on its purpose, the investments within it need to be viewed in the context of the district as a whole. The stadium, surrounding development and other investments are not valuable only because of what each one produces on its own. Their greater value comes from the activity and investment they can generate together.

The Larger Opportunity
The Capital City Reinvestment District was created for investments like this and gives Des Moines something that most individual redevelopment projects do not: a framework for bringing public investment, private capital, professional sports and surrounding development together to transform an entire part of the city.

That requires a different approach to investment. Transformational development takes a long-term view, recognizes that major projects can serve as anchors for additional private investment and understands that the economic return comes from the concentration of activity, not from any one specific building. The stadium is one of those anchors, but the surrounding development is what helps build the district around it. That is why the conversation about the CCRD should be bigger than any individual negotiation or project. The opportunity is to create a district that changes how this part of Des Moines functions, attracts new private investment and produces economic activity that extends well beyond the boundaries of a single development.

Transformational development demands a bold, long-term vision—one that matches the scale of the opportunity before us. The Capital City Reinvestment District was created to turn that vision into lasting economic growth, investment, and community impact.