Ankeny headed down a new trail
By SARAH BZDEGA
Des Moines Business Record
His business plans are unfinished, but already Wade Steenhoek is looking to set up his retail store in Prairie Trail's town square. Ankeny's recreational activities and community pride enticed him to move to Ankeny from Des Moines six years ago, and now new development plans have inspired him to quit his job as an insurance executive at ARAG Insurance Co. at age 39 and become an entrepreneur.
"[Prairie Trail] is going to define the community five years from now," Steenhoek said. "It's what people will talk about when they talk about Ankeny."
Steenhoek may be one of several businessmen who try to stake their place in Prairie Trail in the next couple of years. His excitement is building as DRA Properties LC and the city of Ankeny presented master plans designed by Pittsburgh-based Urban Design Associates last week. As part of the master plan, the former Iowa State Dairy Research Farm will become a close-knit community surrounding a traditional Iowa town center.
This grand-scale project is expected to bring 9,000 people to Ankeny - comparable to Waukee's growth, said Ankeny City Manager Carl Metzger. At buildout, the total valuation will be approximately $1 billion. Although several Des Moines suburbs have had similar growth, this is the first project in the area where the city already surrounds all the land, providing the unique opportunity to create a city center from scratch.
"There's the possibility of different streetscapes, architectures and possibly doing some alleyways to not only make it a new and better place, but different," said Ted Rapp, development coordinator for DRA Properties, "and to draw some different businesses that may be unique."
Along with plans to start developing the town center's infrastructure, which will likely include retail, office space and apartments on the buildings' second or third levels, DRA Properties expects about 300 lots surrounding the square to start being developed this year or early in 2007, which will include mixed housing and commercial properties.
The city purchased the farm from ISU last September and resold it to DRA Proprieties, which is owned by Dennis Albaugh. The planning challenge, according to city officials, was to tie together different corners, including a Deere & Co. plant to the northwest, Des Moines Area Community College on the southeast and a police station that will be built on a 10-acre lot in the northeast corner of the development.
"It's a 1,000-acre-plus facility with the city around it, and now we want to fill the center in and do it the right way," Albaugh said. "We went through quite a planning process. It's the first in-depth planning process of any of my developments that I've ever went into."
The city and DRA's solution to tie together the various stakeholders in the massive expanse of land is to use the principles of new urbanism, which advocates creating a compact, walkable community through controlled development. Officials say new urbanism in other areas across the country has been successful.
The town square will be located on the east side of State Street, a four-lane highway already bisecting the Prairie Trail area. It will be accessible with several trails and possibly a public transit route that runs from downtown Des Moines along Second Avenue to State Street.
From the town center will extend several housing districts dotted with parks, including a 40-acre section that may have trails, greenbelts and ponds located southwest of the town center on the other side of State Street. Along the south side of the Deere plant will be a business park, and throughout Prairie Trail will be set locations for smaller commercial businesses such as grocery stores, convenience stores and banks. Albaugh said he already is in preliminary discussions with a grocery store and is requiring that it include a business center accessible to the community in its building plans.
In addition, the city is researching the development of several civic facilities, which will be partially financed under Albaugh's agreement to pay $1.25 for every dollar the city spends on infrastructure in the area, up to $25 million. This is in addition to the $23 million he is spending for the property. Possible ideas include a new library and community center with an auditorium.
The neighborhood-like atmosphere and job opportunities throughout Ankeny, Metzger said, should be attractive to young couples.
"This project, Prairie Trail, creates quality of life," he said. "It's a neighborhood where you want to live, go enjoy yourself and gather with friends, complemented with development of places to work."
Steenhoek believes small retail businesses like the one he plans to start will do well because of this community atmosphere.
"Those people that are interested in the neighborhood system typically are long-term residents and are more involved with those around them and have pride in what's happening around them," he said. "They want to make sure businesses succeed."
Gains for DMACC and John Deere
Although 90 percent of community college students find work in state, the community environment surrounding DMACC's campus could induce students to stay in Ankeny after they graduate, said the college's president, Robert Denson.
"It's great for students while going to college because it provides job opportunities," he said. "These employers get to know students, get to know their skills. If the benefits and job conditions are right, they may stay."
DMACC also is planning to purchase 10 acres from DRA properties along the north side of the campus. Some of the land DMACC is acquiring will be the site of the Iowa FFA Association's new headquarters, which the organization has already raised $8 million to build. The new building will include classroom and training facilities for students studying agriculture and horticulture. The rest of the 10 acres will be for a new academic building.
Preliminary plans also include private student housing along the north side of the campus, a town center that would enhance the "college town" feel and accommodations for business groups that use DMACC for training sessions, such as meeting rooms and hotels.
Such improvements, said Denson, could help enrollment continue to rise. About 12,000 students enrolled at the school's Ankeny campus last year, up 8 percent from the previous year.
"I think certainly as the city of Ankeny works with developers and the community college, we all will come at the table together to enhance lives - not only of students of DMACC, but of the city of Ankeny," said Doug Williams, the school's vice president for business services. "The workforce of Central Iowa will ultimately benefit from having these students educated at DMACC and retained in the Greater Des Moines/Central Iowa workforce."
Officials at John Deere Des Moines Works also see the proposed plans as a benefit, because it will enhance the quality of life for the plant's employees and potentially attract a more talented pool of workers, said Jim Ballard, human resources manager for the factory.
Preliminary discussions with the city and DRA Properties suggest that some restaurants and research facilities related to Deere's work might be included in the business park near the plant. Ballard said the company also is excited about the opportunity for more mixed housing and better accommodations for clients who visit the plant.
"We're all for farmland in our business, but if an area is already going to be developed, we would like to see it developed in the way that it's being proposed," he said.
Down the trail
In the next month to two months, the city and DRA Properties will work with Urban Design Associates to nail down more details of the master plan and then present their proposal to the plan and zoning commission and city council for approval.
"The next 60 to 90 days are really critical to us, but also exciting," said Metzger.
Albaugh said that numerous developers and businessmen have shown interest in the project, and after approval, he will start selling off lots to developers with set guidelines for what they can build on each section.
Albaugh also hopes to start grading some lakes, which will be used for storm runoff as well as recreation, waterfront housing developments and possibly restaurants.
If he had his wish, joked Rapp of DRA Properties, this project would be done in six to eight months, but it likely will take six to eight years.
Yet the grand scale of the project is what Albaugh considers his "family legacy," and he wants to make it unique to Ankeny and the rest of the metro area.
Community leaders and Albaugh especially believe that the project won't detract from what is already going on in Ankeny, including development along Delaware Avenue.
"Delaware is a great project," Albaugh said. "It's got a lot of the big boxes already there. We're not looking for big boxes. We're looking to create something other than that."
Entrepreneur Steenhoek sees Prairie Trail as a good thing for the community as well.
"The great blend of retail, recreation and residential housing. Couple that with trails, the green space, the waterways they're looking at doing," he said. "It's going to be a tremendous place for people to live, create a sense of identity for Ankeny and reinforce the sense of community that exists."
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