Look directly ahead and you will spot the arena by its massive, sweeping wall of reflective glass, anchored on the right by a towering block of reddish-brown brick that currently displays its original name.
This is the Casey's Center, a one hundred seventeen million dollar structure born from a rather spectacular political gamble. Remember that massive Iowa Events Center project we just looked at? This arena is the crown jewel of that controversial two hundred seventeen million dollar package. Construction costs ballooned over the next four years, leaving many wondering if the local government had made a catastrophic error.
They had not. In its very first year, this arena became the moneymaking engine of the entire complex. Why? Because fans simply ate and drank one point four million dollars more than anyone originally anticipated. Never underestimate the profitability of a captive, hungry audience. That local appetite is quite fitting. After twenty years as Wells Fargo Arena, the Iowa-based convenience store chain Casey's secured the naming rights for eighteen point three million dollars, ensuring their famously popular handmade pizza became a staple of the concession stands.
If you look at how this arena sits within the city, you will notice it does not stand alone. It is plugged directly into the Skywalk System. Think of the Skywalk as a vital, physical web of enclosed pedestrian bridges suspended above the streets, connecting the arena to the rest of downtown. It links what would otherwise be completely isolated developments into a continuous, navigable grid.
Inside, the arena has hosted an impressive variety of triumphs and disasters. In two thousand sixteen, hometown metal band Slipknot played a deeply emotional show here. Their frontman had just undergone unplanned spinal surgery, yet he powered through a frenetic seventeen-song set, telling the crowd that Iowa is a state of mind. That same year, Garth Brooks sold out six consecutive shows, leading over eighty eight thousand fans in an arena-wide singalong illuminated entirely by cell phone flashlights.
But not every tenant has been so lucky. The arena is home to minor league sports, including American Hockey League teams, which play just one step below the NHL. In two thousand eight, a hockey team called the Iowa Chops moved in. Their tenure ended in a bizarre scandal after exactly one season. It turned out the team owners had secretly pledged the entire franchise as collateral for a nearly two million dollar bank loan. The league found out, suspended the team for violating bylaws, and eventually forced a sale to Texas.
The building even served as an emergency refuge. In two thousand twenty, fierce winds from a derecho... a severe, straight-line windstorm... ripped the roof right off a local junior hockey arena, leaving the interior exposed to pouring rain. That team had to temporarily move their games here, with fans sitting in safely distanced pods. Sports here can be unpredictable. When the arena hosted a highly anticipated UFC fight in May two thousand twenty five, the main event ended abruptly in the second round when a fighter suffered a severe knee injury, resulting in a sudden technical knockout.
We are going to head into that Skywalk system now. It will keep us completely separated from the traffic below and guide us to our next stop, a site of modern architectural drama at the five fifteen Walnut Tower, which is about a thirteen minute walk away.
