The growth in population and demand for commercial services in Greater Des Moines’ suburbs has created bountiful opportunities for land developers. From shopping malls and corporate headquarters to residential suburbs and condominiums, construction projects are hardly in short supply.

But with that growth, cities and developers have realized the need for improved vision and planning. Cities want to create better neighborhoods, while developers want to strengthen their approach to doing business. Companies such as Hubbell Realty Co. and Regency Land Development Services are forgoing 40- and 50-acre efforts in favor of 100-acre-plus projects that encompass a variety of residential and commercial uses.

Though projects of this scale require more planning, a longer time frame and greater risk, both city officials and developers say they favor this approach.

“It takes some time, but when you’re done, you know your whole game plan for the development,” said Rob Myers, president of Regency Land Development.

Regency will begin work this spring on Tallyn’s Reach, located southwest of George M. Mills Civic Parkway at 88th Street in West Des Moines. The 350-acre “master-planned community” – a large parcel of ground that is well planned to include a variety of uses – will contain single-family homes, townhouses, condominiums, “active adult” townhouses, mixed-use buildings and office buildings, all integrated with parks, trails and ponds.

“Master-planned communities have been around for a while. It’s just that here in the Midwest, particularly in Iowa, you haven’t seen a lot of them because the traditional way of developing property is taking in smaller pieces of land,” said Bill Spencer, vice president of Regency Land Development. He pointed to nationwide studies that found that higher-density residential areas with varied uses contribute to healthier communities.

Spencer said Tallyn’s Reach is the largest project his company has tackled thus far, but certainly won’t be the last of its kind. Regency bought 370 acres of land in Ames last summer and will master-plan that tract as well. The company is considering projects that would be anywhere from 250 to 500 acres and that could be expanded to 1,500 acres. Myers said the company will do at least one major development in each Greater Des Moines community.

“We can really concentrate on that one area and make it a success,” Myers said.

In Waukee, which set a record for housing construction in 2005, the city is currently platting four or five large tracts of land, and has several new developments that are between 100 and 150 acres, according to Community Development Director Jody Gunderson.

In Ankeny, Community Development Director John Peterson said he’s seen big changes in neighborhood development proposals over the last five years. Plat sizes have increased, largely because of the desire by developers to offer a variety of housing options in one development.

In the early 1990s, Ankeny shifted its land-use policy plan to encourage mixed-use developments that included a commercial presence, as well as single-family developments with an elementary school or neighborhood park at the core.

Some of those projects are now approaching build-out, according to Peterson. But though there continues to be an emphasis on mixed-use projects, he said Ankeny and other cities are seeing more large-scale developments.

“There has been a dramatic change in the scale of some of these projects,” he said. In the past, many residential subdivisions included as few as 13 or 14 lots. Now, the city regularly approves subdivisions with anywhere from 50 to 80 lots. Parcels ranging from 80 acres to 160 acres have become the norm.

White Birch, a 90–acre development at State Street and Oralabor Road, is “one of our better mixed-use corners,” Peterson said. The Stanbrough Development Inc. project, which is near completion, includes single-family homes, townhouses and condominiums fronted by commercial buildings.

But that project pales in comparison to Prairie Trail, a 1,031-acre collaboration between the city of Ankeny and DRA Properties, a subsidiary of Albaugh Inc. Prairie Trail, which will be located on the former site of the Iowa State University Dairy Research Farm, will include residential neighborhoods, with single-family homes, townhouses, brownstones and possibly senior living units, as well as entertainment venues, recreational areas and a business district.

The master-planning process began this month and is expected to be completed by June, with construction likely to begin later this year, Ankeny Economic Development Director Tim Moerman said.

Because of the sheer size of Prairie Trail, Peterson said Ankeny is unlikely to ever see another project of that scale. But he and others still expect large-scale developments will continue indefinitely. Officials in cities such as Ankeny are encouraging projects of that size because they believe that it forces better planning and, in turn, produces better neighborhoods and more coherent design.

“We’ve tried to sit down with those (land) owners upfront and master-plan to a higher level of detail than to what our comprehensive plan calls for so that they start out understanding the goals the city has,” Peterson said.

West Des Moines Community Development Director Clyde Evans said his city is encouraging projects similar in design to Tallyn’s Reach because they provide a variety of land uses and housing options to residents. He also expects the Regency project will spur further development in that corner of town.

Gunderson said projects of this scale are desirable because they allow Waukee to better follow the development objectives stated in its comprehensive plan.

“I certainly think it’s desirable because we’re allowed to plan out a whole area rather than piece stuff together and hope the next project fits in with what’s next door,” he said

It takes longer to assemble the pieces for a large project, Gunderson added, “but once you work out the kinks, the rest of the project goes much smoother.”

The old method, Spencer said, was for one developer to buy 40 acres and build an apartment complex while another developer purchased an adjacent 20 acres and put in a residential subdivision. That piecemeal approach created uncertainty for cities and developers.

“Even though the city has a comprehensive plan, you never have a true sense of what it’s going to look like,” he said. A master-planned community “puts some of those concerns to rest.”

Jim Hubbell, chairman of Hubbell Realty Co., also realizes the advantages long-term planning and large-scale developments can provide to cities. With a large development project, cities can tackle infrastructure needs for several hundred acres at a time, rather than repeating the same efforts for several smaller projects.

“They get to see things farther ahead, and I think as a result do better planning,” he said. “The larger projects give cities a much more accurate look at what’s going to happen.”

That approach presents advantages for developers as well.

Hubbell Realty entered the land development market in the early ’90s, primarily working on 40-acre parcels of land. Now, he said, “we buy everything from 150 to 300 and 400 acres.” He said the shift in trend is largely a reaction by developers to the level of difficulty involved in obtaining city approval for various elements of a project, from zoning changes to building permits.

“It’s harder with 300 or 400 acres than it is for 40, but when you’re done, you’ve got quite a few years of development in front of you,” he said.

But the advantages also boil down to better marketing and leasing. Myers said he is a “big advocate” for controlling what is around his company’s developments to maintain a certain level of integrity and cohesiveness within a project, a strategy that he uses as a marketing tool with prospective tenants.

“We have standards that we really want to maintain,” he said.

A single large-scale development is easier to manage than several scattered sites, Myers added, which in turn produces efficiencies and cost savings that can be passed on to customers. In addition, he said, concentrating on a single project, such as Tallyn’s Reach, and developing it as a “Regency Planned Community” allows the company to establish a brand within the market.

Mark Trost, development director for Stanbrough Cos., said the trend has largely been driven by economics. “You have to do large pieces to make it work,” he said.

Perhaps one of the biggest advantages to developing on this scale, he said, is the flexibility that is built into many master-planned projects. The condominium market is hot right now, leading many developers to include condo units in their master-planned communities. But should the condo market cool off in three or four years, well before their projects are built out, the developers may be able to respond accordingly.

“You don’t know what the market is going to ask for over the course of the development, so you want to keep it somewhat flexible,” Trost said. “The (planned use developments) allow a fair amount of flexibility so you know if the market takes a turn you can respond to that.”

Hubbell said there needs to be some flexibility built into large development projects, and said most cities understand the need for high quality development to take place. They wouldn’t want developers to build a 60-unit condominium project if the market doesn’t demand it.

However, during the planning process, Trost said, developers must try to determine what the “absolutes” are with the city. If the city is adamantly opposed to an apartment complex within a development, the developers should abide by that.

“As you look back at the project, there are a lot of gray lines,” he said. “But you know where the gray goes to black.”

Spencer said flexibility must be built into large projects because of market uncertainty. He said cities are often cautious about it, “but most understand that the reasons people develop is to meet market demand.”

Gunderson said Waukee is not always open to changing zoning designations, especially if it has approved a plan it is particularly pleased with. Changes have been made in the past, however, and the city continues to be open to re-evaluation of existing plans.

“The decisions the city makes has a lot to do with what is already in place, so the city won’t be too receptive to anything too radical,” he said. But, he added, working with larger tracts allows developers to react more quickly to a change in the market.

But developers are typically willing to deal with that uncertainty along with the other risks inherent in large development efforts. Hubbell said bigger projects come with greater risks, primarily on the economic side of the business. A larger piece of land can take many years to develop, during which time the economy can change dramatically.

“You expose yourself to not only the ping, ping of interest, but the economy can change,” he said. “Price inflation in the last year in anything to do with construction, largely driven by the price of oil, has been significant.”

Interest payments on a drawn-out project can become quite costly, and planning and infrastructure work can take far longer than on a traditional project. But even so, the risks are outweighed by the long-term benefits.

“Let’s say the economy gets better, or you’re expecting the housing bubble to blow up and it doesn’t, you’re ready to go,” Hubbell said. “If times are good, you are in a much better position to move more quickly than you otherwise would have.”