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The City of Des Moines is taking another important step toward the 2026 move to its future home – T.M. Franklin Cownie City Administration Building – the former Nationwide building at 1200 Locust Street.

Staff and consulting architects have been working to refine designs that will consolidate government operations and make the five-story building accessible, efficient and functional for employees and residents. The improvements identify plans for interior demolition that will occur this fall with renovation and construction scheduled for 2025. Residents can learn more about this stage of preparing the building in the recent City Facility Expansion Phase 1 Improvements presentation to the Des Moines City Council.

The improvement plans will drive renovations of 155,000 square feet of interior space on levels 1-5 of the eastern half of the H-shaped building with new public meeting spaces, a new Customer Service Hub and the integration of several administrative departments. Other benefits for residents will be the building’s connection to the Downtown Skywalk and the larger and more accessible City Council Chamber and facilities for other City boards and commissions.

When Phase I is complete, the renovated facility will accommodate new public meeting spaces and 10 City departments that are currently spread out between the Argonne Armory, City Hall, Polk County River Place, and Municipal Service Center (MSC1). The building is expected to house approximately 360 staff positions within the following departments:

• City Clerk’s Office
• City Manager’s Office
• Civil and Human Rights
• Development Services
• Engineering
• Finance
• Human Resources
• Information Technology
• Legal
• Neighborhood Services

Plans for the future relocation of the Police Department to the building’s western half of the building are targeted for Phase II with a timeline to be determined.

A key feature of the facility will be enhancing services for residents with the new Customer Service Hub that will consolidate eight transaction windows that are currently located in four different City buildings. Deputy City Manager Matt Anderson said the service hub concept will allow residents who need to purchase permits, licenses and other services, to perform those transactions at a one-stop-shop designed with service lobbies and kiosk counters.

"When people visit us in the future, they'll come to one place, and we'll have the staff here to help them through their process. We'll go from eight transaction windows to one centralized service area to make it easier and more efficient to do business with the City," Anderson said.

City Council approved the $30 million purchase price of the buildling in September of 2022 and authorized the feasibility study in December 2022.  The purchase price for the 360,000-square-foot building came in at less than $90 per square-foot, well below the market rate for new construction of office space in Des Moines which is currently estimated between $300-400 per square-foot. Additionally, the $10.6 million purchase price of the 1200 Mulberry parking garage is below current cost estimates for similar new construction.

OPN Architects is the consulting firm on the design and renovation of the building, while McGough Construction is the construction manager.

Construction on the final segment of the Des Moines Metropolitan Wastewater Reclamation Authority's (WRA) Ingersoll Run Sewer Separation Project is underway and it will alter traffic flow in the western portion of Downtown Des Moines.

The project will eliminate a combined sanitary and stormwater sewer overflow, allowing the WRA to treat wastewater before discharging it into the Des Moines River. Previously, periods of heavy rainfall would overflow the combined sewer system which caused untreated wastewater to discharge into the river. 

"This is the last of several EPA-mandated projects that aim to eliminate combined sewer overflows" said WRA Facilities Engineer Melissa Schlickbernd. "They are all a part of the WRA's mission to enhance water quality, protect our environment and improve public health."

Residents and visitors have already seen work being done around Western Gateway Park, with the installation of curb bump-outs at major intersections and sewer installation work beginning on 15th Street between Mulberry and Walnut Streets. Most intersections will remain open as the contractor plans to bore underneath them during sewer installation to eliminate the need for more closures.

"In an effort to reduce the impact to downtown travelers, the City of Des Moines has planned several road and traffic improvements to coincide with the WRA's sewer installation work," Schlickbernd said.

Sewer installation will continue north, with 15th Street closing between Walnut and Locust Street starting Monday, May 20. Work will progress west on Locust toward the Fleur Drive to Grand Avenue intersection, which is a major part of the City's traffic improvements for the project.

"Before West Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway was constructed, the Fleur Drive Bridge was the main way to travel between the airport and downtown," said City Engineer Steven Naber. "Usage has dropped by over 82%, and with the WRA's project taking place, now is the time to reconfigure this obscure intersection and look at how we can make safety improvements for all travelers."

Starting June 3, the intersection of Fleur Drive, Locust Street, Grand Avenue and 18th Street will close as work begins to replace the area with green space. A multi-use trail will be added to add a needed connection between Ingersoll Avenue and the Meredith Trail.

"We've got a lot of pedestrians and cyclists around here along with Central Campus," Naber said. "These improvements are going to make it much safer for both trail users and motorists."

Grand Avenue and Locust Street will both be converted to two-way traffic from 18th to 15th Street and drivers will be able to utilize 15th and 17th Streets to move between the two major downtown roads.

With the closure of the 18th Street Intersection, traffic patterns will change during the construction phase of this project. It's important to note that the Fleur Drive Bridge is not closing permanently. During construction, traffic patterns on the bridge will be disrupted. When the project is complete, the bridge will reopen to two-way traffic.

West MLK Jr. Parkway, where Segment 1 of the Ingersoll Run Project was installed, is planned to be fully reopened by July 1 — nearly six months ahead of schedule — as the contractor completes reconstruction of the north lanes. West MLK offers travelers a major arterial roadway to access downtown during this next phase of construction.

Residents and visitors are asked to obey all traffic signs and use caution around construction sites. The latest road and trail closures can be found at DSM.city/Closures.

Those with questions regarding the sewer separation work can contact Melissa Schlickbernd at (515) 822-1506 or MDSchlickbernd@dmgov.org. Traffic improvement questions can be directed to Justin Miller at (515) 208-4933 or JWMiller@dmgov.org.

401 Robert D. Ray Drive may not stay an empty parking lot for long.  

That’s because last night the Des Moines City Council took the first steps forward for a development proposal for the City-owned site at 401 Robert D. Ray Drive, adjacent to City Hall.

"This is a fantastic opportunity for our city to transform an otherwise empty lot into a retail and residential hub that will add to the vibrancy of the East Village,” City of Des Moines Economic Development Coordinator Chandler Poole said. “This project will continue the momentum that is in progress with multiple projects currently under construction in the East Village."

The development partnership of Gold Cap Development, Sidekick Development and Wade Investments submitted the proposal that the City Council approved. The proposed five-story building could include a mixed-use project that will have ground floor commercial and retail space as well as up to 76 residential units.

“This project will provide a combination of high residential density and dynamic retail opportunities and breathe life into a space that has been a vacant concrete pad for years,” Poole said.

Following Monday’s City Council vote, City staff can begin the process to negotiate preliminary terms of an urban renewal development agreement with the Gold Cap, SideKick and Wade Investment teams. City staff will negotiate the number of affordable units and the rate of affordability as well as sustainability elements that will be incorporated into the building’s designs with the development team.

City Council will have opportunities to hear public comment and approve both preliminary terms and final terms at future council meetings.