Aviva USA will build its new headquarters on a 71-acre parcel in West Des Moines, taking 800 jobs out of Des Moines. The subsidiary of London-based Aviva plc announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire undeveloped land on the southwest corner of Jordan Creek Parkway and Mills Civic Parkway owned by businessman Robert Etzel.

Pending state and local approvals, the new site will consolidate Aviva USA’s operations from three locations in downtown Des Moines, and the company will hire an additional 400 employees. The company, which purchased AmerUs Group Co. last year, expects to close on the land later this year and will complete construction of a 360,000-square-foot campus by the end of 2009 or early 2010.

“Our expected investment of $135 million to $150 million demonstrates our commitment to the Greater Des Moines area as the hub of our growing U.S. operations,” said Thomas Godlasky, CEO of Aviva North America, in a press release. “In the past seven months we have added approximately 200 jobs and we expect to add at least 400 more high-quality jobs here in the Greater Des Moines area over the next three years if state and local approvals are received.”

Aviva looked at more than 25 sites in Greater Des Moines and explored other areas in the United States for its headquarters. It chose the West Des Moines site for its lower cost and ability to support future growth.

Aviva will work with The Staubach Co., Knapp Properties Inc. and architectural firms SVPA Architects Inc. and HKS Inc. to complete the project.