West Des Moines city council members will decide Monday whether to create an urban renewal area that could pave the way for tax increment financing to help redevelop the struggling Regency West Office Park, an 8-building, 630,000-square-foot complex that is now less than 30% occupied. The vote comes less than a year after Chicago-based commercial real estate firm Bradford Allen bought the 44-acre property, and it marks the city's latest step toward reshaping a site that once anchored the metro's office scene.
A Once-Dominant Office Park Now Mostly Empty
Regency West sits between 4200 and 5000 Westown Parkway and was developed by Mid-America Group, whose CEO, Marvin Pomerantz, was a prominent Des Moines businessman who died in 2008, according to Business Record. The park was once the largest office park in the Des Moines metro, but its cumulative assessed valuation has since dropped to about $16.9 million, down from $52.4 million in 2023, per a city staff report cited by the outlet. Bradford Allen purchased the property from R&R Realty Group for $15.5 million, a deal detailed by businessrecord.com, which separately reported the park's assessed value fell 27%, from $48.9 million in 2023 to $35.5 million in 2025 — a slightly different valuation trajectory than the figures in the city staff report, though both sources agree the decline has been steep.
R&R Realty had tried to keep the property competitive, investing more than $1 million in 2021 on a fitness center, an automated coffee shop, a multipurpose room and a small executive conference room, according to businessrecord.com. Those upgrades weren't enough to reverse the slide. Nearly 14% of the more than 12.8 million square feet of office space across the western suburbs sat vacant as of a third-quarter 2025 CBRE report cited by the same outlet, a vacancy rate that mirrors broader struggles across the regional office market.
What Bradford Allen Wants To Build
Bradford Allen has described its vision as transforming Regency West into a vibrant, mixed-use destination, with the redevelopment planned as a district including housing, retail, dining and hospitality, per Business Record's reporting. The firm's proposal reportedly includes 290,000 square feet of renovated office space, at least 80,000 square feet of retail, a 120-room hotel and 700 new residential units. Bradford Allen has said the project requires significant infrastructure improvements and that tax increment financing is necessary to fund that work alongside its own private investment, the outlet reported.
The company has also said a multiphase redevelopment would catalyze investment benefiting the surrounding community and grow the local tax base. The project is pursuing potential financial assistance through the Iowa Economic Development Authority as well, according to the same report. City staff have said they will release more details on the redevelopment proposal and incentive package as negotiations continue.
The Urban Renewal Area and What It Would Change
The proposed urban renewal area would cover office and commercial properties from 42nd Street to 50th Street, north of Interstate 35, and would be removed from the existing University Avenue Corridor urban renewal area, per Business Record. Establishing it would enable a new tax increment finance district and allow the project to take advantage of changes the Iowa Legislature approved to the state's urban renewal and TIF laws earlier in 2026. The financial impact of the proposed urban renewal area and any TIF district was not immediately known, according to a city staff report cited by the outlet.
City staff have said the goal is to stimulate private investment in new commercial and residential development through public involvement and commitment. The city says it is aiming for a diversified, well-balanced economy that provides a desirable standard of living, along with job creation, a stronger tax base, a more marketable investment climate, and residential development that meets city needs. Any development agreement with Bradford Allen would still require separate approval from the city council.
Part of a Broader Redevelopment Push
West Des Moines has leaned on similar tools elsewhere. The city rezoned the nearly 60-acre Valley West Mall site in June 2024 to allow residential, office, retail and entertainment uses, and approved an Urban Renewal Plan for that project in 2025, according to a Hubbell Realty blog post. The same post describes The Grand Experience, a planned 110-acre development combining entertainment, hospitality and housing, and notes the city is exploring a blended-neighborhood zoning concept that would allow multiple housing types within the same area.
The city is also studying a separate 650-acre commercial area bounded by 22nd Street, 50th Street, University Avenue and Interstate 235, weighing zoning changes meant to give commercial redevelopment greater flexibility, as reported by Business Record. The West Des Moines Chamber has framed the Regency West plans in similar terms, describing new zoning updates aimed at more connected, pedestrian-friendly development and noting that vacancy rates across the western office market have dropped significantly enough to create demand for future Class A office space, according to a State of the City report from the chamber.
A Soft Office Market Citywide
The pressure on Regency West reflects a broader regional trend. The Des Moines office market recorded 52,969 square feet of negative net absorption in the second quarter of 2026, pushing year-to-date absorption to negative 14,113 square feet, according to a Colliers research report. Overall vacancy ticked up to 16.3% in that quarter, from 16.1% in the first quarter, even as suburban submarkets managed modest gains, posting 10,105 square feet of positive absorption with a 15.9% vacancy rate.
Monday's meeting will determine whether the urban renewal area moves forward, setting the stage for the financing negotiations and development agreement still to come. Business Record reporter Michael Crumb, who covers real estate, development and transportation for the outlet, first reported on the proposal ahead of the vote.
