Prospect Meadows, without tourism grant for now, keeps fundraising

IOWA CITY - Prospect Meadows still is swinging for its $14 million fundraising goal.

The proposed 17-field baseball and softball complex near Marion has more than $8 million in public pledges and private donations, and its leaders turned Wednesday to the state's Community Attraction & Tourism committee for help with a $2.8 million grant.

The committee, which assists projects providing recreational, cultural, entertainment and educational attractions, recognized the economic development factors of Prospect Meadows, but believed it was asking too much of the committee's $5 million in available funds.

Members told Prospect Meadows to reapply when it has a slimmer proposal.

Since the fundraising campaign launched in February 2014, Prospect Meadows has raised $3 million in private donations and more than $5 million in public commitments, and secured a $1.3 million grant from the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Local governments of Linn County, Cedar Rapids and Marion committed a combined $4 million. The Linn County Board of Supervisors leased it 120 acres northeast of Marion for $1 a year.

The complex would include a Miracle Field for those with special needs and disabilities, and would host local league play and weekend tournaments.

Jack Roeder, president of Prospect Meadows, said that Perfect Game USA agreed in a 15-year memorandum of understanding to bring 1,000 teams to the facility every year - equating to about 60,000 out-of-the-area visitors annually, he said.

Perfect Game USA is an organization that holds tournaments throughout the country to helps develop young baseball players. It is based in Cedar Rapids.

Marion committed $1.25 million, citing economic development benefits the ball fields would bring.

'Marion is fully behind this project, even though it is not actually in our city limits, but we recognize the impact it is going to have on us as a community and as a metro area,” said Lon Pluckhahn, Marion's city manager, who stood next to Roeder before the committee Wednesday at the Terry Trueblood Recreation Center in Iowa City.

Pluckhahn said he has had talks with potential hotel developers. If the complex becomes a reality and hotels come, it would increase the amount of money the city receives in hotel/motel tax sevenfold, he said.

'So when we start thinking about where we should be investing our money - 1.25 million into a project like this, at full build out and capacity - it would pay off in two years,” Pluckhahn said.

With the tourism grant now on ice, Prospect Meadows remained hopeful.

Tuesday, a state sales tax incentive dubbed the ballpark tax break cleared a Senate committee and is eligible for floor debate.

The incentive would give Prospect Meadows up to $2.5 million in rebates over the next 10 years on items like tickets and concessions.

Roeders said that if the sales tax deal passes - and Prospect Meadows receives a federal government loan it's working on - it will reapply for a state tourism grant.

James Q. Lynch of The Gazette contributed to this report.