Several years ago, I was hand-lining for tinker mackerel off a dock in the fishing village of Menemsha, Mass., when I looked up to see what seemed to be a skyscraper-tall luxury liner slip into the harbor.

 

Such sightings weren’t all that unusual. Big ships carrying people with billboard names drift in and out of Menemsha on occasion. The village is located on Martha’s Vineyard, an island that some people would argue has sported way too much celebrity swagger since the movie “Jaws” was filmed there in 1974.

 

I bring this up not to broadcast that I have visited the island probably more than any other vacation destination — it does boast great fishing, and I am an avid fisherman — but because the image of the boat and who appeared to be its only passengers, Jackie Onassis and Art Buchwald, popped into my mind Tuesday during the unveiling of the Krause Gateway Center.

 

Why? The Krause family and its Kum & Go convenience stores are private players who find themselves very much in the public domain. Onassis and Buchwald had summer homes on the island. Both were active in a variety of island charities. Still, your chances of interacting with them in public were about on par with bumping into an 18-foot man-eating shark in Vineyard waters. (I should point out that a fish of considerable size did glance off my leg one inky night while fishing for striped bass at a spot that was a short drive and long walk from Menemsha. In the darkness, I thought “shark attack.” Though the fish more than likely was a trophy striper that was ignoring my streamer fly.)

 

Back to the Krauses. The $120 million-dollar, 160,000-square-foot Krause Gateway Center that was put on public display this week is a “not before in Des Moines” structure that is surrounded in glass. It actually mimics the downtown street grid — which is offset 15 degrees from the Des Moines River until you reach 14th Street and Grand Avenue, the eastern edge of the Krause property, where it follows the Jeffersonian 90-degree pattern — and will make a stunning architectural statement as the backdrop to the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park.

 

Kyle Krause said he had no preconceived notion of what the building would look like when he asked world-renowned architects to submit designs. It is obvious that he was looking for something iconic, and he got it from Renzo Piano.

 

“We created guiding principles — we wanted it to have a connection to the community, to have a sense of transparency and collaboration, for it to be unique, and to last generationally. I think Renzo created a building that meets those principles and exceeds them in many ways,” Krause said.

 

Kyle and Sharon Krause have a connection to the community. They are active with the Community Foundation of Greater Des Moines and Bravo, for example. Still, it would be a stretch to say the Krauses have a public face. Kum & Go has a public face, on view on many a street corner. On the other hand, it is an extremely private, family-owned operation.

 

The company’s current headquarters in West Des Moines, boasting a distinct contemporary architectural style that came from the hand of local architect Bryan Shiffler, is hardly considered a public park. Maybe the location makes the company seem a little aloof.

 

Kum & Go is coming downtown; so are the Krauses. Read more about Kyle and Sharon Krause.

 

And it would seem that they are putting out the welcome mat in order to get to know their neighbors.

 

Kum & Go’s “corporate presence is changing,” Kyle Krause said. Just the move to a signature site that occupies more than a square block of real estate and will be primarily public plazas and green space is proof of that. The building will take up less than 25 percent of the property, located between 14th and 15th streets and Grand and Ingersoll avenues, he said.

 

“You become less private when you do that,” Krause said. “That’s probably part of an evolution.”

 

Gene Meyer, who was mayor of West Des Moines when Kum & Go built its current headquarters on Westown Parkway, said the Krause family is more public than private.

 

“I’ve been familiar with the family and the company for decades; they have been very public, serving on boards and commissions,” he said. “They know the lay of the land. This move downtown I’m sure will result in them being even more active.”

 

Attorney Steve Zumbach, a member of the Kum & Go board for the past decade and a longtime family friend and corporate adviser, noted that the Krauses have “a long history of being generous and giving to the community.”

 

“This is the third generation of Krauses and what Kum & Go has done, with Kyle and Sharon Krause embracing the community with their ideas, their money and their time. They want the community to enjoy what they enjoy, art and architecture, and to be a contributing factor,” Zumbach said. “They truly are in major way making a financial commitment by investing in a great piece of architecture and a corporate headquarters. They are going to place our signature building in the epicenter of the community.
 

“This is a real gift.”

 

With an emphasis on open and collaborative workspaces, the Krause Gateway Center will serve another function by sending “a strong message that Des Moines is a great place for the young creative workforce. This building will help attract talented and innovative people to our community,” he said.

 

The building itself will make a public statement, said Jeff Fleming, director of the Des Moines Art Center.

 

“The building will augment the history of architecture in the city in a very significant way,” he said. “Piano’s name added to the list of internationally acclaimed architects represented in the city, such as Saarinen, Pei, Meier, Chipperfield, van der Rohe, and Burnham — not to mention contemporary architects who live and work in the city now — will only enhance Des Moines’ status as a city of great architecture.”

 

The Krauses are no strangers to the Western Gateway neighborhood.

 

The Krause Gateway Center was unveiled at 1420 Locust St., a historic structure that was purchased and renovated by a Krause limited liability company. It has been renovated and will be home to a technology firm and a Spanish restaurant. The Krauses own the adjacent parking lot and the historic structure next to it at 1430 Locust. DLR Group is a tenant in that building.

 

The Krauses own residential properties, for the first time, including the Arlington and Hallett buildings at 1301 Locust. They own the Gas Lamp tavern and the apartments above it.

 

“I think downtown housing is a good thing,” Kyle Krause said. “I think it’s OK for us to be apartment owners.”

 

Krause said he has no plans to clear any buildings other than those needed for the Kum & Go headquarters. It is worth pointing out that among the buildings to be razed is a former Subway restaurant that turned a few noses skyward when it opened in the Western Gateway.

 

Something much bigger will take its place and make a bold statement.

 

Once upon a long-ago time, using a piece of string and a bare hook, I went fishing for lunch with my wife and brother-in-law. I saw a big ship. It left a lasting impression. No doubt, the Krause Gateway Center and the family behind it will do the same.