The historic Val Air Ballroom in Des Moines, Iowa, sells to new ownership for $1.9 million
Entertainment
The historic Val Air Ballroom sells to new ownership for $1.9 million
Isaac Hamlet
Des Moines Register
Published 2:09 p.m. CT Jan. 20, 2022
The Val Air Ballroom, pictured in 1997.
Bob Modersohn/Register File Photo
A local music promoter bought the historic Val Air Ballroom, the West Des Moines venue that has hosted countless concerts from Chubby Checker to Bob Dylan in its 83-year history. VAB LLC, managed by Samuel Summers, paid $1.9 million for the West Des Moines property and plans to continue its rich legacy as a showroom.
In 2016, Michigan-based owner Pedro Zamora set a $2.6 million sales price for the venue at 301 Ashworth Road near the Historic Valley Junction.
Zamora acquired the showroom in 2003 for $1.1 million.
The Val Air originally opened in 1939 and hosted decades of varied entertainment for locals since then from swing dancing and big bands to heavy metal and punk.
In just the past 20 years, the Val Air Ballroom stage brought the likes of hip hop star Snoop Dogg and metal giant Alice Cooper to Des Moines, and it became a desirable venue for high school proms, the
Heartland Swing Festival and
Pho King Cook-Off.
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