The West Des Moines Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual State of the City luncheon on Thursday, where West Des Moines city officials provided the latest information about projects throughout the city.

Mayor Russ Trimble, City Manager Tom Hadden and Community and Economic Development Director Ryan Moffatt joined chamber President and CEO Katherine Harrington at the Des Moines Golf and Country Club to share updates.

Valley West Mall
Valley West Mall was the buzzword of the luncheon.

“We hope to know any day now who the new owner of Valley West Mall is going to be, and we look forward to taking that site and the area around it back to absolute greatness,” Trimble said.

Valley West Mall is a 60-acre area that West Des Moines is looking to partner with a developer on for redevelopment. Trimble said the city wants long-term projects for the area.

“It’s going to be something that’s going to be here forever and that you guys are going to go absolutely ga-ga over, and if not, as I’ve said before, then the city’s not going to participate. ‘Developer, you’re on your own.’ And I hope they can do that on their own. So we’ve got some leverage here,” Trimble said.

He said it’s possible the city will know in the next several weeks who the successful bidder is.

“We believe there were four or five bidders,” Trimble said. “I believe two of the bidders may have been local and two may have been from out of state and we are excited to work with whoever ends up being the successful bidder on that to make that into something out of a storybook.”

Moffatt said every potential developer he’s brought through the mall property has said that the mall is “shot,” or irreparable.

“But they all agree it’s still a great piece of real estate, and I think that we’re excited … for the community to really see what’s going to happen with them all, what the future looks like,” Moffatt said. “This is the No. 1 question I get when I go out in the community. So that will be an absolute big area of focus.”

Moffatt said the general public will know a lot more in late fall of this year about plans for the mall property. Many in the audience nodded when Moffatt mentioned that the property would be a walkable, mixed-use space.

“We’ve got this opportunity again, it’s, for all purposes, the geographic population center, the metro, it’s positioned off of I-235,” he said. “[We want to] create this kind of a central gathering space, a community hub and service space and basically build a walkable, mixed-use development around it. That’s what our vision is. We want this to be something that’s unique and has a good sense of place and not be some typical suburban development.”

He elaborated on what he meant by a sense of place.

“I gravitate to locations that have a sense of place, some kind of built-in environment that draws you in, with entertainment offerings, restaurants, dining, housing options, all those things are in the cards for Valley West Mall. And I know some of the developers that I’ve talked with, they aspire to share our vision for the property as well.”

Moffatt said his team is working on a strategic plan, separate from the city’s 2040 plan; the new plan focuses on what businesses can be brought to town. He said they expect to have the plan ready to go by early next year.

State of the City
During his State of the City address, Trimble noted that West Des Moines is one of only about 100 cities in the U.S. with a AAA bond rating from Moody’s, a designation that indicates strong financial health with minimal credit risk.

“We continually work to try to keep West Des Moines as affordable as possible, and we do that by working to be efficient in the delivery of government services and also cut taxes whenever possible. We cut taxes 5 cents per $1,000 in the last budget,” Trimble said. “West Des Moines Polk [County] and West Des Moines Dallas [County] continue to be one of the lowest consolidated tax rates in the metro, and our valuation continues to average a little over 4% year after year.”

West Des Moines is the seventh largest city in the state.

“It kills me to say that we used to be sixth until Ankeny overtook us by 495 people,” Trimble said with a laugh.

He said the city is taking part in a special census, which he is hoping will show that the population of West Des Moines is 76,208, compared to Ankeny’s 76,207. Since the 2020 census, West Des Moines has grown 12%, he said.

Trimble highlighted some economic development achievements from the past year, including the opening of West Bank’s corporate headquarters and the Athene Pedestrian Bridge, Holmes Murphy’s expansion to West Des Moines and plans to add a third ice rink to the MidAmerican Energy RecPlex.

“We continue to build more and more momentum and break away from the pack,” Trimble said. “We’re attracting businesses that no other city has, and that makes me proud.”

He also emphasized the importance of adding affordable housing projects to the city.

“We’re looking to re-up our historic West Des Moines housing program, which has been a huge success and helped to revitalize the homes down there,” he said.

Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority
Trimble, who is on the board of commissioners at DART, talked about how the service is revising its bus network to prioritize ridership over coverage, aiming for more frequent service in high-density areas. This change may reduce service in some areas due to budget constraints. The network changes will be presented in September, with the possibility of involving private sector partnerships.

DART provides more than 12,000 trips each weekday, usually transporting people to and from work.

“DART also brings people to our community, especially to work or shop,” Trimble said. “In the Jordan Creek area, nearly nine out of 10 trips that DART provides help people either earn or spend money, which means that DART is not just moving people, it’s driving our local economy as well, just like the city and school district. However, DART is funded primarily with property taxes.”

DART has been trying to provide the most efficient service possible without raising property taxes, he said. This is DART’s first network redesign in 20 years. While the transit authority designs its new network, local government budgets are tightening, he said.

“This spring, our city council and our residents had an opportunity to weigh in on what the goals for transit service should be, and we decided it was important to have a bus network that actually prioritizes ridership over coverage. This means that we’re going to have fewer routes with more frequent service where there are lots of people and jobs that are close together. This approach is what will make DART the most useful to the most people,” Trimble said. “However, it also means that some people who have access today will not have access in the future, because we just can’t afford to serve every single area of the metro.”

He said DART is exploring different business models.

“That’s what we’re looking at, is what different business models are out there and how we can partner with the private sector and others to deliver the most efficient, effective service,” he said.