Best Buy Co. Inc. will downsize its West Des Moines store as the owner of Water Tower Place develops a new space for a Whole Foods Market Inc. store.

Jeff Daniels, a broker associate with Buyers Realty Inc. in Des Moines, said his firm worked for nearly two years to represent the Austin, Texas-based natural and organic food retailer in finding its first Iowa location. Whole Foods announced last week that it will open next spring in a 30,000-square-foot space at 4100 University Ave.

The minutes of a February West Des Moines City Council development and planning subcommittee meeting indicated that a 5,700-square-foot addition to the building will be required to accommodate both companies’ requirements. Daniels confirmed that the building’s façade and parking lot will be remodeled.

“We couldn’t be more pleased to have Whole Foods Market join Water Tower Place,” said Buyers Realty owner Abe Wolfe in a press release. “Whole Foods Market is a unique retailer that embodies everything we’re looking for: a devotion to community, a provider of delicious, high-quality foods and a topnotch employer.”

Whole Foods expects to hire 125 people at Water Tower Place, which counts among its tenants Marshalls, World Market, Sports Authority, Guitar Center, Office Depot, Dress Barn, Valley West Uniforms and Famous Footwear, according to Buyers Realty’s website.

Daniels, who said the 400,000-square-foot retail development is 100 percent occupied, is marketing the approximately 25,000-square-foot space that currently houses a Borders Group Inc. store.

In February, Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Borders said it would close about 30 percent of its more than 500 namesake stores as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization efforts. The second-largest U.S. bookstore chain is expected to close its West Des Moines store this month.

Whole Foods employs 60,000 people. The company, which has more than 300 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, has been ranked by Fortune magazine as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” in America for 14 consecutive years. It reported fiscal 2010 sales of more than $9 billion.