The City of West Des Moines is excited to welcome Iowa’s first-ever Topgolf venue, opened on Friday, September 6, 2024. Located at 7655 Mills Civic Parkway, within The Parkways development, this two-level entertainment hub is a prime destination for both locals and visitors.
For those unfamiliar with Topgolf, it offers a modern twist on the traditional golf experience. It’s an inclusive environment where players of all skill levels – from novices to seasoned pros – can enjoy the game in a relaxed and fun setting.
Here’s what you can look forward to at the new Des Moines location:
Topgolf Des Moines features 72 climate-controlled hitting bays across two levels, each equipped with cutting-edge Toptracer technology. This technology tracks the trajectory, distance, and other metrics of each shot.
Topgolf isn’t just about golf; it’s a full entertainment venue.
For additional information about the Topgolf Des Moines venue, visit the location page. Those interested in joining the team can apply via Topgolf’s career site.
Source: Top Golf
(WDM) More retailers looking to West Des Moines for storefront locations. With our focus on workforce, housing, amenities and tourism, West Des Moines is a prime location and is attracting businesses of all sizes to the area.
Abercrombie & Fitch will open a new store at Jordan Creek Town Center nine years after it closed a previous store at the West Des Moines mall.
The Columbus, Ohio-based clothing chain is slating the opening for late fall, said Ali Phillips, a spokesperson for Jordan Creek owner Brookfield Properties. The new store will be located on the bottom level of the mall across from the Apple Store between the center of the mall and Dillard’s.
Annabella Williams, a spokesperson for Abercrombie & Fitch, said the store will have an Abercrombie Kids section and that more details will be released closer to its opening date.
Jordan Creek Town Center celebrated its 20th anniversary on August 4. Abercrombie & Fitch was an original tenant and had a store in a prime location the upper level near the mall’s center. But in January 2015 Abercrombie & Fitch and a neighboring Abercrombie Kids store closed as the company shut down 60 underperforming stores. The company also later closed an Iowa City-area store at the Coral Ridge Mall in 2019.
A Hollister teen apparel store, also owned by Abercrombie, remains open at Jordan Creek.
Source: Philip Joens, Des Moines Register
West Des Moines leaders envision decades of development opportunities for the city’s south side, especially as it hopes to annex more land all the way to Cumming someday.
Why it matters: While a lot of the city is already built out, the area south of Raccoon River along the Highway 5 corridor is ripe for development, says Ryan Moffatt, WDM’s economic development director.
Flashback: Prior to the construction of Microsoft’s data centers, which began in 2008, the southern area of West Des Moines wasn’t available for building.
State of play: Today, the area is a hotbed of new construction.
What we’re watching: The city is also looking to expand recreational opportunities in the area like the new Athene Pedestrian Bridge between Raccoon River Park and Walnut Woods, Moffatt says. There are plans to build a 26-mile marathon loop connecting the city’s parks as well as another pedestrian bridge parallel to I-35 to connect to Purple Martin, he says.
Source: Axiom, 5.2024 (Truncated)
West Des Moines continues to expand the Microsoft Inc campuses on the south side of town. The data center investment by Microsoft has resulted in nearly $200 million in public improvements through tax increment financing where the data centers are located. This has opened up more than 4,500 acres of land for additional development in West Des Moines.
IN THE NEWS:
Sixteen building permits were issued for new commercial projects in the Des Moines area in June, including four for data centers at two of the Microsoft Inc. campuses in West Des Moines.
The centers are each 244,676 square feet, records show. Each of the projects in Ginger West is valued at $374.5 million; the Ginger East data center projects are each valued at $384 million.
Since Jan. 1, the valuation of all building permits issued by West Des Moines totals more than $1.65 billion, the highest calendar year valuation ever for the city, according to city building officials. More than $1.5 billion of the valuation is for Microsoft projects.
Source: The Des Moines Business Record, July 17, 2024.
A company that provides flexible workspace centers around the world is opening four new centers in West Des Moines to meet the demand for flexible space as hybrid work continues to rise.
International Workplace Group announced in a release that it is opening flexible workspace centers at 1501 42nd St. in West Des Moines, 2323 Grand Ave. in Des Moines, 1601 West Lakes Parkway in West Des Moines, and 1200 Valley West Drive in West Des Moines. The addition of the new centers brings to eight the number of Iowa locations opened by International Workplace Group. The company has 867 new locations around the world.
According to the release, the new flexible workspace centers will serve every type of hybrid worker spanning across employment sectors. The company’s Design Your Own Office service allows companies to tailor their space to their unique needs, company officials said in the release.
Each of the new centers will include private offices, meeting rooms, co-working and creative space.
Mark Dixon, CEO and founder of International Workplace Group, said the Des Moines area’s strong population growth in recent years will allow the company to “establish an even stronger and much-needed footprint in the state.”
“Iowa is a fantastic place for us to boost our expansion plans and to meet more employees where they live and want to be,” he said. “Our openings in the Des Moines area support companies who are discovering that flexible working and shorter commutes not only boost employee happiness and productivity, but also help the environment and allow for a business to scale up or down at significantly reduced costs.”
This is a great time to be living and working in our city. These additions to our community demostrates how innovative and how easy it is to do business in West Des Moines. Check back often for more news as this project develops.
Source: The Des Moines Business Record, 7.17.24
The West Des Moines Planning and Zoning Commission took steps this week toward the realization of the Grand Experience, a planned $500 million entertainment and commercial development.
The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission voted Monday to recommend approval of an amendment to the city’s planned unit development concept plan and its comprehensive land use plan to allow the development to move forward. Both actions are expected to go before the West Des Moines City Council for approval next month.
Ryan Moffatt, community and economic development director for West Des Moines, said the Planning and Zoning Commission’s actions were among the first steps needed to accommodate the $500 million development that is expected to include a 100,000-square-foot indoor waterpark, a 60,000-square-foot conference center, two hotels, at least 150 affordable housing units and speculative commercial and retail space.
According to Moffatt, a development agreement is anticipated to be reached this fall. The submission of site plans is the next step, with approval taking six to eight months, he said.
“Plans are still conceptual at this point, but the best indication for construction of the first phase of this project would be planned for late 2025,” Moffatt said in an email to the Business Record.
Moffatt said the Grand Avenue corridor is envisioned to be the next area of West Des Moines where significant commercial growth will happen.
He said the Grand Experience will be a significant attraction for families and visitors with the ability to draw hundreds of thousands of visitors annually.
“Much like the Des Moines metro has recently seen with indoor concert venues of various sizes providing concerts that weren’t coming previously, having a flexible conference center and events space of this stature in the western part of the metro would enhance the offerings of the area and hopefully bring in additional conference and convention business to the metro,” Moffatt said.
The project would also generate new property tax, sales tax and hotel/motel tax revenue. It also would complement the activity at the nearby MidAmerican Energy Co. RecPlex, he said.
“The two facilities could really play off one another well in the future,” Moffatt said.
Moffatt said he could not comment on specifics of a development agreement with the developer behind the project, Jim Bergman, but that “we anticipate an agreement will help address the developer’s gap financing needs” on the proposed conference center and workforce housing.
The city would also need to make infrastructure improvements to accommodate the development, including widening Grand Avenue to six lanes from Interstate 35 to Jordan Creek Parkway, Moffatt said.
We look forward to working with the community as we continue to grow our vibrant city. Check back here often for updates about this exciting attraction.
Source: The Des Moines Business Record, 7.24.24