.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;}
The hard-hat era has ended at West Glen Town Center, the upscale community within a community plotted by a handful of visionary developers earlier this decade in West Des Moines.

The concept put forward by Gary Kirke, Bill Van Orsdel and Tim Urban was something called “new urbanism,” an area where residents could buy their groceries, hang their hats and enjoy a night on the town, all within a few steps of their front door.

In early 2000, when the three Greater Des Moines entrepreneurial heavyweights discussed the idea, there were no models to follow, at least not in Central Iowa, Kirke said recently.

Their motto for a place to “shop, work, live, play” has become a catch phrase for developers, but none can call their projects complete and at least one failed before the first foundation was poured.

For Kirke, the transition from construction cranes to cozy shops, studio apartments and popular nightspots represents an opportunity to market West Glen to the community and allow the development to mature.

As it ages, West Glen could have a residential population of 200 people and a $120 million development build-out, including anchors such as Drury Inn, Josephs Jewelers and SuperTarget, all of which own their individual sites.

Though Urban is no longer an investment partner, Van Orsdel and investment partners Terry Moss, Bob Pulver and Bob Horner share financial interests in West Glen.

But Kirke is on the ground and involved in day-to-day operations from a fourth-floor office where he also manages other business interests, including the Wild Rose casinos.

He has recently hired a new general manager, Karrie Weinhardt, who has been behind a variety of efforts to nurture arts and culture organizations and events in Greater Des Moines.

“She is a breath of fresh air,” said Tim Kellogg, who opened the popular Cabaret West Glen nightclub in 2006 and keeps his finger on the community’s development pulse.

“Karrie is very tenant focused; she has developed solid relationships with tenants that are going to help us in the future,” he said.

Weinhardt came on board in May, about the same time that construction work was wrapping up.

“We still had hard hats that we had to put on when we left the office,” Weinhardt said.

These days, with the recent completion of the Promenade Plaza North building and the Keystone building with its loft and studio apartments, Weinhardt can doff the hard hat and put her marketing and management talents to work.

Weinhardt possesses qualities that Kirke admires in a manager.

“You always look for people who are good with people, who communicate well, who are good organizers and project managers, people who have good business acumen and just good common sense,” he said.

She shares Kirke’s enthusiasm for West Glen. Retail and office tenants participate in marketing efforts; Weinhardt in turn offers to help shop owners brand their businesses.

Weinhardt said an atmosphere of cooperation is growing at West Glen. That sense of community might be sparked by the development’s rapid growth and ability to attract a mix of business with national and local prominence.

Kellogg said his business grows with every new tenant, whether those tenants are residential, retail or office.

And he does not see that growth fading.

“Even if the economy suffers, I say that there’s no recession at West Glen,” he said.

Kirke said West Glen has the benefit of being sited at what he calls “the busiest location in Iowa.”

Traffic studies have shown that nearly 65,000 cars pass by the east side of West Glen every day on Interstate 35, and that more than half of those pull off the interstate, onto Mills Civic Parkway and right in front of the area’s main entrance.

A SuperTarget store serves as the anchor tenant of West Glen; it attracts 10,000 to 12,000 cars filled with shoppers every day, Kirke said.

Target served as the initial magnet to pull customers into West Glen, even when the imposing sight of construction machinery could be seen beyond the rooftops of the development’s other buildings.

Kirke said West Glen provided enough diversity to keep people on the grounds.

“Once you get them in here, you’re going to get people to stay,” Kirke said.

And you get them to live.

In the few months that Keystone has been open, slightly more than 50 percent of its apartments have been rented. And more than 90 percent of West Glen’s one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, located in the original Town Center East, are occupied.

Amanda Stopek, 22, has lived for a little more than a month at Keystone, where her rent is discounted because she lives near her place of employment, Regus plc, one of the country’s largest tenants.

“I thought this was the kind of place where a lot of people my age would want to be,” said Stopek, who graduated from Drake University in December and also holds a part-time job near Valley West Mall. The three days a week she drives to that job mark the few times her car moves away from West Glen.

Stopek is attracted to the night life at West Glen, which is matched locally only by the East Village, she said, as well as the farmers market West Glen hosts each Saturday and “Fridays at the Fountain,” when live music is featured near the dancing fountains at Stone Brooke Terrace, also in West Glen.

Just as important to her busy lifestyle – Stopek also is establishing her own business as an event and wedding planner – is that “I can leave my apartment at 8:26 in the morning and be at work at 8:30.”

Stopek’s dog, Peanut, is welcome at West Glen as well. In fact, there are water bowls for any pet out for a stroll along Stone Brooke Terrace.

The atmosphere and amenities at West Glen also drew Stopek’s employer to West Des Moines.

“We strategically selected West Glen Town Center for a number of reasons, including this being among the fastest-growing areas in the state and the unique features and amenities that the property offers our clients,” said Michael Berretta, vice president of business development for Regus.

The company provides temporary office space throughout the world. It occupies part of the fourth floor of Promenade Plaza North, where clients also have the benefits of shared conference rooms, video conferencing, a kitchen and gift certificates to West Glen shops.

Discounts at West Glen shops also are available to Regus’ tenants.

Those discounts, morning yoga sessions and monthly meetings of business tenants might not have been spelled out in the original concept for West Glen, but they are providing protein to fuel the area’s growth.

“The vision is right on track,” Kirke said.

The construction era marked the on-time completion of West Glen’s two development phases.

Kirke talks with enthusiasm about retail success stories at the development and the addition of new shops that seem to trigger his entrepreneurial imagination.

He would like to see the addition of a mail service center to serve tenants as well as businesses and residents in the high-growth areas around West Glen.

As for phase three of the West Glen development, targeted for about 17 acres north of SuperTarget along Interstate 35, the financial markets and economy could determine the pace of its build-out.

Kirke is in no hurry.

“It could be for future development, or it could be land to be sold,” Kirke said.

For Weinhardt, West Glen offers the opportunity to spin her marketing magic, then step back and watch the community grow.

“It’s kind of like letting young kids go to college,” she said.