Last July, when Waldinger Corp.’s acquisition of Wolin Mechanical-Electrical was just settling in, Iowa division President Guy Gast said he expected great things to come of the deal, once all the wrinkles of joining two of the area’s oldest mechanical contractors were ironed out.

Though the behind-the-scenes working-out of those wrinkles remains behind the scenes, one great thing to emerge is Waldinger’s plan to build a $20 million corporate headquarters and production facility in Des Moines, right in the path of what was to be the city’s contribution to the Southwest Connector project, now called Veterans Parkway. The total cost of the project could touch $22 million.

On Sept. 24, the Des Moines City Council took several steps to move the project along, and in doing so it served notice that plans for the extension off the Iowa Highway 5 bypass to Des Moines International Airport would be laid to rest, not that they generated a lot of enthusiasm to begin with.
The council actions also included setting an Oct. 22 hearing for creation of a 45-acre urban renewal area near the intersection of 63rd Street and McKinley Avenue that could lead to more commercial and industrial development on the city’s southwest side.

The Waldinger acquisition of Wolin was big news when it broke in July 2017. Waldinger, founded in 1906 as Capital City Tin Shop by Austrian tinsmith Harry Waldinger, also has operations in Cedar Rapids, the Quad Cities, Omaha, Kansas City and St. Joseph, Mo., St. Louis, and Dodge City and Wichita, Kan. The company was renamed after its founder in 1969.
Wolin was founded in 1920.

Both companies were well-known full-service mechanical-electrical contractors, installing, repairing and maintaining electrical, heating, ventilating, air conditioning, plumbing and piping systems in commercial, institutional and industrial facilities. Waldinger built a reputation for working on mission-critical and other high-profile projects, while Wolin was an established health care and design-build contractor. Both had a strong presence in small service-related, technically demanding projects.

According to a staff report to the City Council, Waldinger is ready for more expansion. The company has annual revenues of around $400 million and employs 295 office and production workers and 500 to 600 construction field and truck-based service technicians in Central Iowa as part of a total workforce of about 2,000. The company expects to add another 115 office and production employees by 2021, after the expansion project is complete.

A company affiliated with Waldinger, Bell Avenue Properties Inc., plans to buy about 28 acres of land near 63rd and McKinley that is currently owned by another Greater Des Moines stalwart, Mid-America Development Co., for construction of the 149,000-square-foot office, production and warehouse facility that will be leased to Waldinger, according to the report to the council. Construction could begin late this fall.

The city will help the project along with a three-year abatement of all property taxes and tax increment financing capped at $1.8 million. The Southwest Gateway Urban Renewal Area would be created to accommodate the TIF.

As part of the development package, the city will release the right-of-way that was to be part of the Southwest Connector and provide that land at a value of $170,950 to the developers once the project is complete. Bell Avenue Properties would be responsible for reconstructing a segment of McKinley, including the addition of a public sidewalk.

As of Jan. 1, the land covered by the right-of-way had a valuation of nearly $48,000 and received an agriculture tax exemption. Once the Waldinger project is completed, the property will have an estimated value of $12 million, according to the staff report.

Discounting the TIF, the project is expected to generate a net property tax collection of $2 million over 10 years and about $8.3 million over 20 years, according to the staff report.

In a separate action, the council directed the city manager’s office to work with the Des Moines Metropolitan Planning Organization to remove the Southwest Connector leg from 63rd Street to Park Avenue as part of the MPO’s long-range transportation plan to complete a traffic study of future transportation needs in southwest Des Moines.

Though it is a 112-year-old business, Waldinger is taking the contemporary workforce into account with its office design, with plans calling for a two-story building with open office areas and collaboration areas, a cafe and a fitness center, according to a letter to the city’s Urban Design Review Board from SVPA Architects, Shive-Hattery Architecture + Engineering and Waldinger.

The production building will be a one-story structure with a floor area of approximately 95,800 square feet, according to the letter. SVPA is the architect and interior design consultant, and Shive-Hattery is the civil, landscape and structural engineering consultant. The project is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2019.