Here’s a preview of Des Moines’ future City Hall, Police Department

The city of Des Moines is in the midst of the first phase of a multi-year project to redevelop the former Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. office building downtown into the future home of the police department and several administrative offices.

On Monday, council members received a first look at the first visualizations of the new city building and an update on the construction schedule.

The Des Moines City Council last year approved the $30 million purchase of the five-story, 350,000-square-foot building at 1200 Locust Street after architects hired by the city concluded the space was suitable for both a new police headquarters and city employees who work in aging riverfront buildings such as the Argonne Armory at 602 Robert D. Ray Drive and City Hall at 400 Robert D. Ray Drive.

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Some employees at Polk County River Place at 2309 Euclid Ave. and the Municipal Service Center at 551 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Pkwy. will also move to the Nationwide building, which has been renamed the TM Franklin Cownie City Administration Building. The building’s adjacent parking ramp at 1200 Mulberry St. will likely serve as a parking lot for police cars and employee parking, as well as some other police facilities.

City officials say the move is an opportunity to consolidate currently scattered city services and modernize operations. It’s also an opportunity to bring more workers downtown — a win for shops and restaurants that have seen a weekday footfall exodus since the COVID-19 pandemic began — and gives hungry developers a chance to repurpose the vacant city-owned buildings along the Des Moines Riverwalk on the edge of the East Village.

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City architect Ann Sobiech-Munson and Danielle Hermann of OPN Architects, the design firm, presented updates on the three-phase project and renderings at a City Council work session Monday morning.

The first phase of the project, estimated to cost $28.4 million, includes the design, construction and relocation of the city’s administrative departments and city council meeting rooms and public areas, which will primarily occupy the east side of the new building. Demolition is expected to begin in October and construction in January 2025, according to Sobiech-Munson. The departments could move in by 2026.

The second phase will involve renovating the west side of the building and some areas of the Mulberry Street parking garage to accommodate the police department, according to Sobiech-Munson. There is no set timeline for this phase.

In total, 10 city departments with about 360 employees, as well as the police department, will be housed in the new building: city clerk, city manager, civil and human rights, development services, engineering, finance, human resources, information technology, neighborhood services and legal, the city said. In a third phase, options for the police department’s academy and Metro Special Tactics and Response will be reviewed.

Here is a little taste of the floor plan of the new administration building:

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