State building with familiar facade may be demolished

DES MOINES — An aging office building near the Iowa Capitol that houses 540 state employees and is known for its wall of reflective, gold-colored windows soon could be vacated and eventually demolished under a proposal from a state agency.

The state’s Executive Council — comprised of the governor, treasurer, auditor and secretaries of state and agriculture — this week approved the purchase of an office building in Des Moines for up to $21.3 million, using federal pandemic relief funding.

The purchase of the move-in ready office building at 6200 Park Ave. in Des Moines was proposed by the Iowa Department of Administrative Services, a largely administrative state agency. That building, about 5 miles from downtown Des Moines, will hold up to 870 state workers, according to its report.

The purchase will enable the state to move workers out of the aging Wallace Building, which was built in 1978 and has experienced multiple issues, including structural problems, poor air quality and mold. A recommended list of needed renovations would cost $73 million, according to a state report.

Instead, state employees currently in the Wallace Building will be moved to other spaces, according to the proposal.

The Park Avenue office building will house workers in the Iowa Department of Natural Resources who work in the Wallace Building, as well as all workers from the newly realigned Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing, according to the proposal.

Workers in the Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship who currently work in the Wallace Building would be moved to newly renovated space in the Hoover Building, according to the proposal.

While the ultimate fate of the Wallace Building would be determined by lawmakers, the proposal reports that it would be cost effective to demolish the building.

The Henry A. Wallace State Office Building was named after the Iowa native and third vice president to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Wallace was born in Adair County and grew up in Des Moines.

The office building at 6200 Park Avenue was built in 2000 and has been owned by private companies McLeod, Principal and Wells Fargo, according to the state report. It is a two-story, fully furnished, 141,804-gross square foot building.

The report estimates purchasing the building will save the state between $42.5 and $55.7 million when compared with other options for renovating the Wallace Building or building a new state office building.

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