Ankeny is planning a new mixed-use development that city leaders say will create a more balanced tax base and additional employment opportunities for the suburban community’s predominately young population.

“We see Ankeny’s future as being one where we become more of a job center, and we also see this project as a prototype that could be replicated throughout the state,” said City Manager Carl Metzger.   The project, called the Crosswinds of Ankeny, will convert agricultural land near the new Corporate Woods Drive interchange on Interstate 35 into a commercial and residential environment with the appeal of “new urbanism with a suburban twist,” according to Ankeny Mayor Merle Johnson.

“We think the distinction to this area is that you have a place where people can live, work and play, and you offer all that within a setting that is very comfortable and well-connected,” Johnson said.

According to Metzger, the Crosswinds of Ankeny proposal calls for three districts, all connected by an overlay district, or “a vision for character,” to maintain a high degree of compatibility across the different parts of the project.

West of the Corporate Woods Drive interchange would be Southwoods Crossing, a 300-acre mixed-use business park, which would anchor the south edge of the city’s Southeast Delaware Avenue retail and restaurant district.

East of the interchange would be the 1,100-acre Crosswinds business park, a combination of corporate offices and other commercial uses, and the 300-acre Silverthorne residential community. Silverthorne would feature “urban-village living,” a combination of homes, open spaces for recreation and eclectic shops and restaurants.

Johnson said one of the benefits of having the city draft a focused plan for the Crosswinds of Ankeny, as opposed to having individual developers determine the lay of the land later on, is that city leaders are better equipped to develop an attractive setting for a particular demographic, in this case, the “young-minded.”

“One of the primary objectives is to attract to this area businesses that present career opportunities, thus allowing young Iowans to stay in the area, and to possibly draw back people who have left for careers elsewhere,” he said.

Just as important, the idea-driven project will help city leaders ensure that Ankeny is growing in a way that meets “smart growth” standards, Metzger said.

“From a land-use perspective, we’re maximizing the use of the area we have, which is really characterized as smart growth,” Metzger said. “By providing this holistic environment for people to live, work and recreate, that does constitute the smartest way to grow this area.

“We’re characterizing the entire concept as ‘innovation by design.’ We decided that the process could be driven by ideas or development activity without a vision. We chose to have a plan based on a vision, and we plan to hold fast to it.”

Metzger said a lot must be done to make the Crosswinds of Ankeny a reality. Now that an outline exists, the next steps are to develop the overlay district and have it approved by the city council and to identify partners in the Des Moines area and beyond that could appropriately fill the mixed-use and business park spots. Also, most of the land must still be purchased from private parties.

Steve Van Ort, an Ankeny City Council member, said when the project is completed, it will improve the city’s economic profile by adding more commercial success to complement its residential success.

“I think the overlying factor is the impact it’s going to have on the citizens of Ankeny in continuing to build a well-balanced structure and to develop a strong tax base that will position Ankeny well into the future,” Van Ort said. “Crosswinds begins to put together and solidify a balanced plan for all of Ankeny to help achieve a better balance between residential and commercial.”

ROAD TO PROGRESS

The project to construct the Corporate Woods Drive interchange on Interstate 35 has been in the planning and implementation stages for the past seven or eight years, according to Ankeny City Manager Carl Metzger. The project, which cost $14.2 million and took about two and a half years to build, was designed to improve access to trucking-related and light industrial businesses along I-35 next to Northeast 62nd and Northeast 66th avenues, as well as open up the south side of Ankeny to commercial development.

In anticipation of development, the city announced a plan Oct. 19 at the interchange’s ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Crosswinds of Ankeny, which encompasses 1,700 acres of commercial and residential development. Urban planner Bill Ludwig of Ludwig & Associates says the residential component of Crosswinds, which could be home to as many as 3,000 people, is “as large a project as any we have done,” and the 1,100 acre business park is “roughly as large as any in the state.”