When Krause Group, which operates Kum & Go convenience stores, acquired property for its new headquarters at 1459 Grand Ave., it also bought several other parcels in the area including property formerly occupied by Crescent Chevrolet.

The company’s real estate holdings include 1.75 acres between 16th and 17th streets and High Street and Ingersoll Avenue. It also owns most of the property in the 1500 block of Grand Avenue that includes the Jefferson Apartment building. 

To date, the company has been mum about its development plans.

“We’re in the visioning stage of the master plan of the redevelopment of our portion of the Western Gateway,” said Tanner Krause, Kum & Go’s president. “There’s some really exciting things being talked about that we look forward to bringing to life over the next several years.”

The redevelopment will include a mix of residential, commercial and retail “that will create a new growth area for downtown Des Moines,” Krause said.

He said the development is being designed in a way that will connect the Sherman Hill neighborhood northwest of downtown and Ingersoll Avenue to the west with the Western Gateway and sculpture park.

“It will be a very walkable, bikeable neighborhood,” Krause said. “A lot of what we’re going to do is focus on how people move through the space. We’d like there to be increased accessibility and mobility from Sherman Hill to downtown.”

Krause said while plans continue to be fine-tuned, “I think you’ll start to see some activity soon, and potentially lasting up to 10 years.”