FBL Financial Group and Knapp Properties Inc. announced their partnership, West Lakes Properties L.C., is preparing to develop three multi-use business parks on land it owns in Des Moines, West Des Moines and Waukee. The parks, which will be zoned for light industrial, office, retail and residential use, add 609 acres to the partnership’s holdings of 889 acres, bringing the total to nearly 1,500 acres since its formation in 1989.

The new parks, now in the process of being named and branded, are located in two of the most-talked about areas of development in Central Iowa: Highway 5 and Southwest Ninth, Highway 5 and Southwest Connector, and Alice’s Road and Hickman.

“We’re very excited,” said Bill Knapp II, chairman and chief executive officer of Knapp Properties of the project. “We have a great partner and excellent parcels of land.”

Knapp expects site plans and designs for each project to be finalized this summer. Earthwork is slated to start in the early spring of 2004. West Lakes will market the parks through Iowa Realty Commercial and Knapp Properties.

Each park has been annexed into its respective city and one already has sewer and roadwork completed. Knapp said the parks are projected to be fully developed in 10 to 15 years.

Company officials say the decision to develop additional business parks in the metro area underscores its confidence in the strength, drawing power and growth potential of Central Iowa.

“Two of the new developments are on the south side of the metro area, which has great potential for large-scale commercial development,” said Gerry Neugent, president of Knapp Properties. “The recently completed and planned infrastructure and roads give rise to the maxim that if you build it, development and business will follow. We’ve always intended to develop additional parks as timing and circumstances allowed. The completion of the Highway 5 beltway expedited those plans by connecting the South Side to the rest of the metro area as well as major interstates.”

Roger Soener, investment vice president of real estate for FBL, said the parks are important to Des Moines’ economic growth.

“We’ve always had a lot of confidence in the viability and growth of the Greater Des Moines market and this is a continuation of good, long-term investments,” he said. “I think the parks are very important to the local economy. They provide the kind of competitive product we see in other markets in the Midwest.”

The Highway 5 and Southwest Ninth park is the largest of the three planned developments. Located south of Blank Golf Course on County Line Road, it consists of 341 acres slated for integrated commercial, office, warehouse and residential development, including single-family homes on one-quarter-acre-sized-lots, townhouses and apartments.

“It has a great frontage on Highway 5 for commercial use and beautiful land for residential,” Knapp said. “If you drive along the new bypass, our two parcels of land are the best parcels because of their visibility. Others are very low or too high off the road with no visibility, but these are at interchanges, they’re visible and they’re easily developed.”

Knapp said the park’s proximity to golf courses, Blank Park Zoo, retail along Army Post Road and access to major interchanges make the area attractive to home and business owners. The area is zoned for small retail support businesses like convenience stores and gas stations, as well as small and large office warehouses.

The Highway 5 and Southwest Connector park, a 123-acre parcel to include office and retail use, is situated southwest of Willow Creek Golf Course.

The majority of the park will be used office warehouse distribution, with lots ranging in size from three to five acres. The smaller, commercial portion of the park will incorporate fast-food restaurants and gas stations, visible businesses that will draw motorists off the highway, Knapp said.

Despite its commercial orientation, a leg of the Great Western Trail runs through the middle of the park. The path for bicyclists and joggers ultimately will connect with the Principal Riverwalk downtown, planners say.

“It’s our plan to make the trail a park amenity,” Knapp said. “It’s a real plus to have it.”

As business activity heads west on the newly expanded U.S. Highway 6 or Hickman Road, the Alice’s Road and Hickman park has 145 acres that will cater to business and distribution tenants and owners.

“It’s a great location,” Knapp said of the park that will eventually be accessed by the new 105th Street interchange to Interstate 80.

“Improvements to Hickman really open it up.”

Plans call for light industrial use, and Knapp envisions retailers like a large grocery store there. “I see a substantial amount of retail along the frontage and to the north, office and industrial uses,” he said. “There will be no heavy industrial or manufacturing though.”

Knapp said the park is “as flat as a pancake” and includes completed sewer and roadwork, making it ready for marketing now.

“It’s ready to go,” her said. “This is going to be a prime piece of ground in the next decade.”

Knapp credited officials in the three cities for making the parks viable at such an early stage in planning.

“Everyone is anxious to have us start putting in infrastructure in these three parks,” he said. “We wouldn’t be at this stage if it weren’t for the leadership of elected city and county officials. They’re ahead of the development with streets and sewer and they deserve credit for that.”

Over the last 14 years, West Lakes Properties has amassed investments of $13.3 million in infrastructure in its six established business parks: West Lakes Office Park, Walnut Ridge, Westown Center, Airport Commerce Park West, Airport Commerce Park South and Country Club Commercial. The unique partnership, which combines developer and financier working hand in hand every step of the way, also has built more than 20 miles in streets and 3.4 million square feet of buildings.

“We try to take an active approach to all of our investments,” Soener said. “This is a good way for us to diversify our real estate holdings and we do this locally because it requires hands-on attention.”

More important, Knapp said, the business parks will help groups like the Choose Des Moines Communities branch of the Greater Des Moines Partnership present options to prospective businesses looking to operate in Des Moines.

“They have to have multiple sites to show prospects,” he said. “If you’re in favor of growth, we need to have places for businesses to locate and expand and places for housing or we get stagnate.”