Des Moines City Manager Rick Clark has seen a lot throughout his career in city government. But he’s never seen anything quite like the Principal Riverwalk project.

“I’ve worked here for over 30 years, and I’ve never seen a project that’s as complex in its implementation,” Clark said. “It’s very complex, and that just makes it challenging.”

Just a quick glance up and down the Des Moines River from nearly any downtown vantage point shouts out the message: There’s a lot going on here.

Announced in 2002 by its primary sponsor, Principal Financial Group Inc., the Principal Riverwalk was initially envisioned as a $26 million project to create a series of lighted, landscaped walking trails, connected by two bridges to form a recreational area along the east and west banks of the Des Moines River in the shadow of the downtown skyline.

The project, which has retained its original focus but gained several additional components through a public input process and added sponsors, is now estimated to be a $55 million undertaking – of which nearly 80 percent is funded — that officials say will transform the look of downtown and create an exciting recreational asset.

As spring approaches, three significant elements of the Riverwalk project are moving toward completion in July: the Brenton Skating Arena just south of the Armory Building, the Long Look Garden on the river side of City Hall and the renovation of the Court Avenue Railroad Bridge.

At the same time, the Riverfront Development Authority, a not-for-profit organization charged with planning the ongoing operation and maintenance of the future park, is nearly ready to present its plans to the Des Moines City Council. And, “within the very near future,” Clark said, the final design plans for the new Center Street Bridge that will cap the north end of the project will also be ready to submit to the council.

Moving the Riverwalk forward into the construction phase has been unique in several respects, Clark said.

“It’s unique because it is located in an area where you have multiple governmental jurisdictions at play,” he said. “You’ve got the city of Des Moines, since we own the property, and a lot of our sewer and flood protection systems are located within this area. There’s also the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which has jurisdiction; the Iowa Department of Natural Resources has some regulatory authority; and (the Federal Emergency Management Agency) has some jurisdiction.

“So you have the city, state and federal government all with jurisdictions, and then overlaid on top of that you have a private entity [Principal], which has pledged a lot of money [$11.5 million] and which has their own set of ideas. And along the Riverwalk, you have various entities that have very strong interests, such as the World Food Prize Foundation, which is looking at renovating the former library building.”

Follow the money

“There are a lot of stakeholders in the project; that’s something I noticed early on,” said Scott Cahill, the Riverwalk project manager for Principal. “There’s not one decision maker on this project, so identifying the stakeholders and their interests was very important.”

Cahill, who was hand-picked by Principal Senior Vice President Mary O’Keefe to oversee the project, had managed the construction of several meatpacking plants for what was then IBP Inc. prior to joining Principal to head its project management area.

“I actually have an engineering degree from Iowa State University, so I had an interest getting back into this sort of thing,” Cahill said.

The selection of a contractor for each component project of the Riverwalk has been driven by the funding sources, Cahill said.

“The Long Look Garden, for instance, is funded by both private dollars from Pioneer [Hi-Bred International Inc.] and public dollars from the city. So we had to follow the most stringent process, the city’s bid and procurement process,” he said. The contractor selected for that project was Cramer & Associates Inc., which is also building the flood control walls and upgrading the sewer system prior to construction of the trails. Likewise, the Court Avenue Railroad Bridge project, funded in part by the Iowa Department of Transportation, was subject to the DOT bid process. Jensen Construction Co. was the winner of that contract.

By comparison, the Brenton Skating Plaza was funded entirely by private entities, primarily the Brenton Foundation and the Principal Financial Group Foundation Inc., and so was not subject to bidding requirements, but did go through a competitive bid process.

Hansen Co. Inc. was selected as the contractor for the skating plaza and will also build the Hansen Company Triangle, a separate park area to be built on the west side of the river along the Riverwalk trail. Hansen Co. is also serving as the program manager for the overall Riverwalk project.

“I would compare it to an owner’s advocate,” Cahill said. “Principal is not in the business of building things, so we wanted someone with construction experience looking out for our interests.”

A provision of Principal’s contract with Hansen states that the company will not bid on any other components of the project, to preclude conflicts of interest, Cahill said.

When evaluating contractors, “obviously we looked at their experience; we looked at whether they had done similar projects, their reputation in the community, how well they work with subcontractors,” he said. “And obviously, cost comes into significant play.”

A dynamic process

From the city’s perspective, Clark said he’s pleased that the project has generated significant interest and funding from businesses as well as state and federal programs.

“We’ve had really good leadership from Principal on this,” he said. “They stepped up with their money and have helped generate a lot of other private money.” At the same time, the city’s portion of the project, less than $4.5 million, has remained relatively constant, Clark said.

“As time goes on, the total project cost will probably go up as other elements are added,” he said. “But one of the nice things that’s happening is that additional projects and funding comes in, and the project keeps getting better. There are some elements that have become more expensive, but there have also been other elements added to it that I think just reflect a bigger and better project. And I’m pleased that most of the additional costs that have come about have been funded by sources other than the city of Des Moines.”

The bulk of the heavy dirt work that’s now visible along the west side of the river is actually not part of the Riverwalk project, but rather the start of a planned $18 million sewer project designed to improve the river’s water quality.

“Right now, when you have periods of very heavy rain, there are some discharges from the sewer system into the river,” Clark said. “This (sewer project) will prevent that problem from happening through this area. All of the sequencing here was deliberate, to get the sewer done before any of the Riverwalk surface elements were done.” Once that project, which is expected to take 12 months, is completed, the trail portion of the project can begin.

“The overall perception is that we’re pleased with where things are at,” Cahill said. “Did we run into some surprises that weren’t anticipated? Sure. But I think they were handled very well.”

For example, the original plan was to have the skating plaza open in December 2005, in time for people to skate on it over the holidays, but a combination of factors, among them the weather, caused that goal to be reconsidered, Cahill said.

“We had to step back and look at the business case and say, ‘Does it really make sense to push for it yet this year?’ We also wanted to make sure the restroom facilities and the lighting were ready so that people had the real experience we wanted them to have the first time they used it.”

Besides its recreational amenities, the project is considerably improving the flood protection through downtown with the construction of flood walls that will replace the earthen levees, Cahill said. The walls will have gaps built into them ranging from about four feet to 10 feet wide that can be closed for flood control using doors that will be concealed in the walls.

As a multi-year series of projects, some patience on the part of the public is needed, Clark said.

“Frankly,” he said, “people tend to want to say, ‘It’s taking a long time’ and blame one party or the other. But the fact is, it’s the nature of the process we’re going through here. Given all that, the product here is going to be world-class when it’s done. The pieces that are beginning to come into place are interesting, but I think the best is yet to come in terms of the trail and the pedestrian bridge across the river, the promenades and plazas. I think it’s going to be just a spectacular project when it’s done.”