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If enthusiasm alone could build a 40-acre office park, a Waukee development would be sprouting from the cornfields along Ashworth Road and the proposed extension of Alice’s Road.

As it is, developer Kurt Brewer is stuck in a mode that doesn’t fit him well: wait and ponder.

Brewer has gained considerable attention over the years as Drake University’s “superfan.” Drake’s bulldog mascot is carved out of a tree in front of his home in Waukee.

Wiry, fast-talking and always in motion, Brewer brings the same enthusiasm to his Fox Green project.

The 40-acre parcel is part of more than 200 acres of land that his KE Brewer LLC has acquired in recent years along the future Alice’s Road corridor, which eventually will run north and south from University Avenue in Waukee to Wendover Road in West Des Moines.

The concept of a green development is relatively new to Brewer.

“I’m the furthest thing from green you’ve ever seen,” he said. “I get a kick out of getting 13 miles per gallon out of my truck.”

Yet green he is these days. He has seen the proliferation of new construction that seeks Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

And he has been told that commercial lenders look favorably on such developments, particularly in an economy where credit is tight.

Like any other fan, he is hopeful that his development will lead to a building boom along Alice’s Road and the southern gateway it provides to his community.

“It can be really exciting; it will be really exciting,” he said.

The Waukee City Council took an important step in moving Brewer’s dreams forward last week when it gave initial approval to an ordinance that would establish a 40-acre office park along the future Alice’s Road corridor, a multimillion-dollar street project the city sees as instrumental to its growth and ability to attract commercial development.

If built, Brewer’s Fox Green office park will be a rarity. In order to locate there, companies will have to agree to abide by sustainable building and operating practices. Officially, the area will be designated as a “sustainable pod.”

The ordinance, which won unanimous approval on the first of three readings before the City Council, requires businesses locating at Fox Green to abide by LEED requirements, even if they do not seek official certification.

In addition, each building must meet standards for the environmentally sustainable handling of storm water.

It is a step from the ordinary for Brewer, the city, even the state. At present, a similar development has been proposed in Eastern Iowa, but there are none in Greater Des Moines, said Linda Schaut, executive director of the Greater Dallas County Development Alliance.

Schaut and Brewer discussed the green concept when he was searching for ways to develop his 40-acre parcel.

“What I can tell you is that a lot of companies who are looking at building their own building are looking at a LEED-certified building,” Schaut said.

Fox Green can serve as a template for other commercial developments, she said.

“It can be replicated throughout the area,” Schaut said. “Yes, you can do sustainability in a business park; it has great benefits.”

As currently planned, Fox Green would feature wind and solar power, natural landscaping, shared parking and rain gardens.

“It’s all about trying to be as sustainable as we can to reduce our carbon footprint,” said Schaut, who is a LEED Accredited Professional.

Waukee Mayor William Peard has spent a good deal of his time in office working to promote the development of Alice’s Road, which enters his city north of Hickman Road and presently dead-ends at University Avenue. He sees it as a way to attract businesses and bring additional revenue to a city that currently relies largely on property taxes paid by its burgeoning residential population.

“We’re excited. We’ve just started talking on this particular project, but obviously the city is looking to work with any business out there that wants to come in,” he said.

The city has established a green initiatives committee to determine the feasibility of establishing standards for all future development. Peard is cautious about endorsing such a plan or discussing what blanket standards the city might establish.

“We think this is an exciting program; we think it has a lot of potential and that we can lead the way on this, whether on this project or citywide,” Peard said. “We obviously support a kind of a green development concept in that particular development.

“We’re still in the stages of looking to see how the thing is going to come together. I don’t want to say that’s going to be the end-all and be-all, but we’re certainly excited about a green development project in the Alice’s Road corridor.”

Peard and other city leaders say that development of the corridor will tie Waukee to other key commercial developments, particularly in West Des Moines.

The two communities have cooperated over the years in obtaining funding for an Interstate 80 overpass that will connect them, and they are attempting to persuade local, state and federal authorities to build access ramps at the bridge.

As it stands, Waukee and West Des Moines have contributed a little less than $1 million toward the $10 million cost of the I-80 overpass. The balance has been covered by federal funds.

Federal funding has played a key role in financing what eventually will be a nearly $40 million project, including the price tag on the bridge, to extend Alice’s Road into West Des Moines’ Wendover Road.

Peard said the area’s population growth and potential for dramatic job growth, in addition to increased traffic congestion, should lead the way for construction of an interchange at the I-80 bridge, which is scheduled for completion next spring.

The Des Moines Area Metropolitan Planning Organization is expected to finalize a study this fall that will play a large role in determining whether the interchange should be built.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that those growth scenario numbers are going to be real and are going to point to the fact that the interchange is necessary,” Peard said.

Brewer is in complete agreement on that point.

He believes that once the interchange is built, the Alice’s Road corridor will experience a development explosion.

Even without the interchange, he says that a potential tenant for his Fox Green office park could trigger at least a minor boom. Brewer said a major tenant could locate at Fox Green.

“I’m not talking about jobs that just exist until the concrete dries,” Brewer said. “I’m talking about thousands of new jobs because of what this project is.

“This will get people’s attention.”

Brewer is quick to acknowledge that in addition to playing a hometown favorite by promoting development along Alice’s Road, he has some of his own interests in mind.

“I own a lot of land,” he said.

For now, he has no definite plans for developing the other property he owns in the Alice’s Road corridor.