City gets sports pavilion
Company hands it over, ending struggle over ownership
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The struggle over control of the sports pavilion in Corridor Plaza ended Wednesday with the city government in possession of the building.
Matt Johnson, the leader of MandM LLC, which owned the building, said he gave the city possession of it voluntarily after learning that the lawsuit over the building could continue for months or perhaps even years. He said he could not sustain the operation of the facility that long "especially under the shadow of litigation with the city."
"I reached out to the city directly and let them know that I was willing to surrender possession and will fully cooperate with the transition so that users of the facility are not affected," Johnson said. "I think they were a little surprised by that decision, but in the end I believe it was the right call and I think everyone on both sides are pretty grateful to be moving toward a peaceful resolution."
"So as of this afternoon, the building is back in the hands of the city," he said Wednesday evening.
In a statement issued Wednesday evening, city officials said their immediate priority is ensuring a smooth transition for the individuals and groups using the pavilion.
Some city personnel have already been assigned to the pavilion. The city has had the locks on the building changed already.
"This gives us an opportunity to take a fresh look at the pavilion and move forward with a clear vision for what the facility can become," City Manager David Fierke said. "We're excited about the possibilities and about creating something that will have a lasting impact on Fort Dodge and the people who use this facility."
The professional wrestling event scheduled for Saturday at the pavilion will go on as scheduled, with the facilities manager from MandM LLC working with city staffers to ensure it is a success.
The city government and MandM LLC ended up in court this year over contractually required payments that the city claimed the company did not make.
But Johnson traced the problem back to the original, Ankeny based leaders of MandM LLC that he ousted from the company.
"At the end of the day, what happened here is we all got duped – the city, myself, and the community – by an out-of-town developer with bad intentions," he said. "It's beyond unfortunate that we had to fight amongst ourselves in the aftermath of the damage that was left behind, but hopefully today was the first step in bringing the community back together and putting this dark chapter of our collective story behind us."
The pavilion at 260 S. 27th St. is a 51,000 square foot building on the west side of Corridor Plaza. Inside are five basketball courts, five volleyball courts, three pickleball courts, six batting cages and a walking track.
It was proposed by the original leaders of MandM LLC which has two similar facilities in Iowa. Local officials looking for something in addition to shopping to draw people to Corridor Plaza embraced the plan.
But the company had trouble financing the project.
City Council members said they didn't want to see the project fail and intervened. It was not a popular decision and it sparked several stormy council meetings as residents criticized the idea of city help for the pavilion.
In January 2025, the council bought the building from 3 & 1 LLC for $10.1 million.
Then in April 2025, the council sold it back to MandM LLC for $12.1 million. The sale was structured so that payments from the company would pay off the debt the city incurred to buy the building.
In the spring of this year, a transition occurred with MandM LLC. The result was the original leaders from Ankeny being replaced by local people led by Johnson.
Right after the company announced that transition, the city filed a notice of forfeiture of real estate contract.
In that notice, attorneys for the city wrote that the company was in default on its contract for these reasons:
It failed to pay any money to the city.
It has not provided complete monthly financial information required by the contract.
It has not deposited any revenue from the pavilion into the required account.
Money has been used for purposes not allowed under the contract instead of making payments to the city.
The notice of forfeiture gave the company 30 days to come into compliance with the terms of the real estate contract.
The 30 day period ended July 6.
That day Fierke and Assistant City Manager Ryan Maehl went to the pavilion to inform the staff that the local government was taking over.
At that time Johnson refused to voluntarily turn over control of the building.
Fierke and Maehl left without asserting control over the site.
On July 14, the city filed an action in small claims court to take ownership of the pavilion.
Two days later MandM LLC filed a lawsuit in Webster County District Court, seeking to thwart the city.
During the first week of September, the city's small claims court action was dismissed so that the lawsuit in district court could proceed.
Johnson said that following an initial hearing in district court Monday he was told by his lawyers that the case could take months and maybe even years to resolve. He said that's when he decided that the "only real solution was to give possession of the building back to the city so at least it can stay open and operational.".