Legal fight over sports pavilion continues
One case is dismissed, trial looms on a second one
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The initial court petition the Fort Dodge city government filed to try to take ownership of the sports pavilion at Corridor Plaza was thrown out by a magistrate early this week.
But the legal wrangling over the future ownership of the facility at 260 S. 27th St is far from over, and the city's petition could be revived.
On July 14, the city filed a case in small claims court to take ownership of the pavilion from MandM LLC.
Two days later, MandM LLC filed a lawsuit in Webster County District Court with the goal of thwarting the city's move.
In a ruling released this week, Magistrate Brandy R. Lundy observed that the small claims court action and the district court lawsuit are about the same issue. She wrote that she was dismissing the small claims case "to allow for full litigation" of the district court case. Her ruling left open the possibility that the city's small claims action could be refiled if there are matters that would fall under the small claims court jurisdiction.
A trial scheduling conference in the district court case is scheduled for Sept. 24.
Court records reveal a growing list of filings from attorneys for both the city and the company as they debate various points of law.
Contractually required payments are at the heart of the dispute. The city government claims MandM LLC hasn't made the payments. MandM LLC says it did make the payments.
Matt Johnson, a spokesman for MandM LLC, told The Messenger in July that the company has resolved "everything we possibly could and in our view the matter is already settled."
The pavilion remains open as the court fight proceeds.
The sports pavilion is a 51,000 square foot building on the west side of Corridor Plaza.
The company, which has two similar facilities in Iowa, proposed the Fort Dodge version. 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.
Then in the spring of 2026, MandM LLC went through a transition in which the original leaders from Ankeny were 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 against it.
In that notice, attorneys for the city wrote that the company is 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 was 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.
That 30 period ended July 6.
That day, City Manager David Fierke and Assistant City Manager Ryan Maehl went to the pavilion to inform the staff that the local government was taking over.
Johnson refused to voluntarily turn over control of the building to the city.
Fierke and Maehl left without asserting control over the site.
The city's small claim court action was filed July 14.
The lawsuit filed by MandM LLC was filed July 16. That is the case which is headed to trial.