Former Hawkeye men’s basketball star Kenyon Murray looks to build North Liberty basketball facility

NORTH LIBERTY — Former Iowa men’s basketball star Kenyon Murray is looking to build a 50,000-square-foot basketball training facility just south of North Liberty’s Liberty High School after the City Council unanimously approved tax incentives for the project.

The Corridor Sports Performance Center will include four basketball courts, physical therapy spaces, a fitness center and community event space. The basketball courts also will be used for volleyball and pickleball. The fitness center and physical therapy office will be leased to outside partners.

The facility will serve as the home of Murray Elite, a basketball club serving athletes in grades 6 to 11. It also will host tournaments and be the hub for Murray’s nonprofit, the Murray Family Foundation.

Jon Davidshofer, director of development at contractor Build to Suit, said the facility likely will cost over $10 million, though construction costs still are in the process of being finalized.

Construction on the project is expected to start in September and take 12 to 14 months.

“We've got a nonprofit involved … it's in a very prominent location, and we feel very good about how this is coming together, and we'll continue to work through it,” Davidshofer said Tuesday at the North Liberty City Council meeting.

Murray Family Foundation community work

In addition to the gym space and fitness center, the facility also plans to have different offices and space that can be rented out for community events.

Murray said the hope is that the Murray Family Foundation can partner with organizations such as Junior Achievement and Brightn, a mental wellness app. The facility also plans to offer interview practice and financial literacy classes.

“Our goal is to be a resource to the community, and with these other partnerships, we know that we can make a difference,” Murray said at a recent City Council meeting.

While the specifics of what services will be available at the facility have yet to be confirmed, Murray said the site will be open to the public, not just to members of Murray Elite basketball.

“We have to give (kids) other skill sets to be successful after the ball stops bouncing, and that’s what this is all about. There's a ton of facilities that have popped up, but there's none that's going to be able to offer these services,” Murray said at a council meeting.

Murray said fundraising efforts are ongoing for the Murray Family Foundation and for the services the facility plans to offer.

As part of the fundraising efforts, Kenyon said that his two sons, Kris Murray of the Portland Trail Blazers and Keegan Murray of the Sacramento Kings, might use the NBA Players Association Foundation grant program to help boost the project.

The grant program matches active NBA players’ donations of up to $25,000 for eligible nonprofit and philanthropic projects.

Murray said the facility also will look into partnering with nearby facilities such as the Palestra in North Liberty and Xtream Arena in Coralville for tournaments and other events that need additional gym space.

North Liberty tax incentives

The City Council this week unanimously approved the request for tax increment financing incentives for the project over the course of eight years. City staff members now are working to finalize an agreement on the incentives, which will not exceed $1.3 million.

“When we're using tax dollars to incentivize this project, we're looking for maximized return, not just the base bottom line of paying back the rebate,” North Liberty council member Brent Smith said at this week’s meeting. “We want to see business driven to our community. We want to see people from out of town, from a long ways away, come and stay and spend their money in North Liberty.”

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